What species of reader are you?

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What happens when you love Robert Heinlein and Doroth Parker? John Scalzi.

John Scalzi self-professes his two top influences to be Robert Heinlein and Dorothy Parker. As soon as you read "Old Man's War," you'll see plenty of both, to excellent (and of course pretty darn funny) results. Cliched as it is, I could not put this book down. This book has an average rating of more than four stars on here and was nominated for the Hugo. It's easy to see why. I can't think of a single thing about this book I disliked. I could be more easily pleased or optimistic than the average sci-fi reader because I typically stick more to fantasy than SF. Perhaps the story of a 75-year-old going off to interstellar war is more trite than I am aware of. Some reviewers call it "Ender's Game" without the kids, but I think that description falls way short. Yes, it's military science fiction. But it's John Scalzi's first novel, and am amazing one at that. The writing, characters, pace and storyline are all spot-on. I laughed, I cried, I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I was surprised at the twist at the end. The pace is pretty fast -- there are some substantial topics Scalzi skims the surface of, but I don't fault him for it: there are four books in the series so far, with another one the way later this year. Perhaps he'll address the ethics of colonization or use of soldiers farther down the line, and perhaps not. None of that detracts from a thrilling, fun, rapid read. Thanks to "Old Man's War," I will definitely be checking out Heinlein, and more of Scalzi, in the near future. If you're interested, Scalzi keeps an equally awesome blog, here: whatever.scalzi.com. This is my favorite post, on "Who Gets to be a Geek?"

Sandman: the Wake

"Everything changes, and nothing is truly lost." Gaiman himself sums up this last installment nicely. Five stars for the last issue, but the first few give it an overal rating of 4/5. I loved this series. It lived up to all the hype, and more. I already want to go back to "Preludes & Nocturnes" and begin again. A series you can read and over and over again, and still pick up on new nuances and references and remembered relationships. Beautifully written, wonderfully done. Leran more about the series here.

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"Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher

Gut wrenching. This book resonated deeply, and I imagine it would with most girls -- high school and beyond.

I've read some critical reviews of this book stating that Hannah's reasons for suicide are unbelievable and petty. To me, they weren't -- perhaps because I know a half-dozen classmates who have committed suicide (while in high school, or in the 10 years since), and many of their reasons are similar. It is a snowball effect, and certainly easy to judge when you're on the outside looking in. But I completely empathize with her reasons, particularly for teens in high school. All events seem to have such magnitude and importance in high school (your friends, rumors, and crushes are the end all, be all. You can't imagine not having these people in your life, or having them not matter. Raging hormones and emotions out of control. The drama. The popular rankings and the physical rankings -- yearbook official or not -- certainly have an impact. The humiliations and awkward moments feel unforgettable).

It seems most of the criticism of this book stems from emotional reactions of people claiming the reasons aren't legit or believable -- when really, that's the whole point. Suicide is a deeply personal issue, and I can't imagine many situations where people think, "Oh yeah, that person definitely should have killed himself. Those are great reasons to die." Ridiculous.

Suicide is one of the top-leading causes of death in young people, and is a subject I wish was more frequently dealt with in accessible lit. I'm impressed with Asher's effort and execution. I love who he weaved between the different narratives, breaking it up in a unique way as reader's go between perspectives, rather than chapter-by-chapter. Great pace and an interesting voice. Highly recommend it.

Walking Dead Compendium, Vol. 1

I'm wavering between 2-4 stars on this one, so settled on three. This collects the first 48 issues/8 graphic novels. I would rate the first issue 4.5, then the rest between 2-4. I love the show so much, I really wanted to like the comics more, but Kirkman's style and writing really does not have the depth of the film adaptation. There is not one strong female lead; all in all it's pretty sexist, with macho, aggressive behavior dominating. Perhaps some would argue that you have to be that way in order to survive in the zombie apocalypse, but then Kirkman should have had at least one woman not be suicidal, adulterous, or passively weak. Really ruined the whole series for me. The Compendium really ends on a cliff hanger, so a part of me wants to pick up the ninth graphic novel, but I am not convinced it's worth my time. Don't get me wrong: the plot is interesting, Rick is a very engaging main character who really grows and changes, the art is good, some of the writing is pretty good, but I had above-average standards because of the AMC series and the comics did not measure up. I would say it's above the average comic drivel but not up to the standards of the show.

"Fledgling" by Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler has been recommended to me again and again, so I finally picked up her last book. With "Fledgling," she does not disappoint. Although Butler has reportedly said that even she didn't take "Fledgling" seriously, it follows a lot of the same themes of her more-famous sci fi works.She reminds me of Mary Doria Russell, exploring issues of race, free will, humanity and morality. Fresh, interesting re-working of the usual vampire myth. Though it has something of a "whodunit" plot, the murder-mystery elements take a back burner to the main character's development and her exploration of her identity and where she fits in with her species. Highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in fantasy, anthropology and social critique.

I really want to read "Parable of the Sower," now.

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was so disappointed in this book. Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series solidly good -- a straight up vamp teen romance series that was actually fairly well-written (particularly for the genre). Fun, fast read. Not so much with "Bloodlines." The plot was horribly obvious; the narrator oblivious while occasionally falling inconsistently into omniscient, which completely clashed with Sydney's character and literal personality. This novel was about 100 pages too long and told readers what was going on more often than showing them.

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The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A graphic novel actually won a Pulitzer, with good reason. You may be able to see/hear/read a lot of what the Spiegelmans endure in many other World War II memoirs, but "Maus" is told from the unique perspective of first-hand narration from Art's father, Vladek, and from a second-generation survivor struggling to understand what his parents went through in the war. Spiegelman effectively breaks up the headiness of the war history by switching the narration up between the war and present day conversation between father and son. This one really lived up to the hype.

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For a dreary Monday afternoon

I'm a life-long reader, meaning: reading books and all that it entails is the only thing I have ever done with my life with any real consistency. Everything else falls to the wayside. I've tried soccer, I've tried roller derby, I've tried horseback riding (that one is second ... but not a close second), running, basketball, journalism.

But I am always a reader. And when I think about the time, and space and relationships that have been devoured, for the sake of that next page, that next scene, that next author, that next book I have to have ... it's really quite pathetic, really.

26 years, countless hours melting into days and weeks and months. And all that it means to? Some 450 books. I read and all that it it amounts to is some 450 books that I have actually read.

Not much, is it?

How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel by Charles Yu

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book could be summed up as a coming-of-age survival story, but it is so much more than that. In its own words: "The story of a man trying to figure out what he knows, teetering on the edge of yes or no, of risk or safety, whether it is worth it or not to go on, to carry on, into the breach of each successive moment."



At times it's laugh-out-loud funny, at times it made me cry, and throughout, it's beautiful, stream-of-conscious, poetic. It gets bit redundant at times -- the same plot loops said a few different ways throughout, but that's also kind of the point. Well worth the read.



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Wicked Lovely Series: Darkest Mercy

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This series was such a guilty pleasure for me, but it was solidly good (what the Twilight series should have been, in the end). Yes, there's teen romance and love triangles, but in all the right ways. Marr does an excellent job of developing the characters throughout the series and draws from classic fey folklore. I love the play between the courts. Just another ya series I can't stop reading -- but at least this one was written coherently.

House of Mystery

House of Mystery, Vol. 1: Room and Boredom by Matthew Sturges

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I looked into House of Mystery because of my love of Fables and Jack of Fables. They are as different as night and day, but both excellent. The series focuses on five characters who are trapped in a supernatural bar set in the House of Mystery (an architectural hodge-podge, creepy mansion) where people pay their tab in the only accepted currency of the realm: story telling. While much darker than Fables, the two series share Sturges and Willingham's wit and humor. I'm interested to see where they take it in the next volume.



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All About Love: New Visions

A coworker of mine recommended bell hooks to me. I'm glad she did. The book's premise is an interesting one, and I agreed with a lot of what hooks' argues. Hooks contends that many in our society have forgotten how to love, what it is to love. If you love someone, you do not abuse them, physically or mentally. Hooks believes that there is a difference between affection and love, that many confuse the two.

Anyone who thinks "falling in love" is something that happens to you against your will -- that love is not a choice -- does not know love. Love is a choice, a decision you make to commit to someone; it is something you have to work for.

Hooks covers spirituality, familial love, romantic love, commitment, honesty, values, community.

I haven't read as much non-fiction as I should. I've never read any "self-help" books and I have barely scratched the surface in philosophy, sociology and feminism. This is a book of essays on various topics concerning love -- the first in a series of three by hooks. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in really examining yourself, your values and relationships.

"What is the What"

I'm having difficulty putting into words what I want to say about this book. It had huge emotional impact for me and really illuminated the tragedy that has happened in Sudan over the last decades. African history in general (let alone country-specific events) is vague to so many Americans. "What is the What" is a must-read for anyone with any interest in modern-day Sudan. Beautifully written, gripping and funny. Eggers' brings home a frightening tragedy while making it compelling and accessible. Achek's story is the epitome of triumph over tragedy.

"The Art of Racing in the Rain"

I bought "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein as a Christmas gift for someone and ended up reading it myself because I decided giving any family member a book narrated by an old dog about to die just seemed cruel.

And if you think that's a depressing beginning, it just gets worse from there. After the dog, Enzo, reveals in the first two pages that he is reflecting on his life with his owner Denny and his family as he dying -- he then informs you Denny's wife ends up dying, too. And then he proceeds to go back in time to allow you to become emotionally involved with Denny and Eve and their daughter Zoe before Eve dies.

And then it gets worse again, but I won't tell you about that part and ruin the meat of the plot for you.

I'm making the book sound terrible: it's not; it's just terribly depressing. It's actually beautifully written with wonderful characters and an interesting, if slightly melodramatic, plot. If you can get past how utterly heart-wrenching the book is (and let me tell you, the downward spiral in Denny's life kept going far longer than I expected), the book of course ends up being an ultimately uplifting story.

But, wow, I went through a full box of tissues before reaching the uplifting bit.

Discovering bell hooks

A friend suggested I check out bell hooks after a really good discussion at work. I'm in the middle of reading "All About Love: New Visions" and "Feminism is for Everybody."

Neil and I started reading "New Visions" together, and the same reasons that I love it so far are the same reasons it drives Neil crazy. Go figure.

It's the first noon-fiction work I have really gotten into. It doesn't read like a text book, but I don't think hooks is exactly preachy, either. She simply tells the reader what she thinks, how she's feeling, and why, drawing heavily on personal experience and quoting a few other authors, sociologists and psychologists along the way.

Hooks contends that Americans no longer know how to love - that we confuse affection and care with love. Someone who is abusive does not love the person he or she is abusing. The short book focuses on different subjects every chapter - familial love, passionate love, greed, religion and spirituality, etc. Love should be more about respect -- you should cherish those who stand by, who you feel most comfortable around ... when it is all too easy to take them for granted and take things out on them. But doing that is not love.

This isn't to say that I agree with everything she has to say, and I don't think you have to in order to enjoy this book. It simply challenges you to question our society's views on love, how the media perceives love, and what it means to love.

More later, once I finish it.

A Northern Light

Historical fiction abounds. It's not exactly hard to find a children's story about a kid who meets Abraham Lincoln or befriends Mark Twain or whatever it might be (in the adult section, too). It becomes a rarity when you stumble across a historical fiction book that works. Jennifer Donnelly's "A Northern Light" is one such work. In it, the real 20th century murder of Grace Brown is interwoven into the life of 16-year-old Mattie Gokey, as Mattie is working at the hotel in a town where a pregnant Grace is found drowned in the lake.



The story weaves between Mattie's present -- the summer of 1906 working at the hotel, getting to know Grace and then trying to understand her death -- and flashbacks to Mattie's past year working at home, going to school and trying to obtain her high school degree.

It's not hard to see why "A Northern Light" won a Carnegie Medal, Printz Award and was selected as a Borders Original Voice. The book deals with a lot of heavy issues - classism, racism, women's rights - in an accessible way, while still having an interesting plot and full characters. The Appalachian dialect of the early 1900s is done really well and really adds to the setting.

I had not heard of Jennifer Donnelly before reading this book. Her latest novel, "Revolution," came out earlier this year, and is also getting strong reviews. Looking forward to checking it out, too.

Maggie Furey

I finally finished Maggie Furey's Shadowleague trilogy sometime in November. When I first started the series with "Heart of the Myrial," I thought it was a pretty stereotypical, predictable fantasy series. It ended having a few surprises, getting progressively better with the final two books -- "Spirit of the Stone" and "Echo of Eternity."

The story centers on a group called the Shadowleague who are supposed to be the only beings on the world that can penetrate the barriers between the different countries on the planet. Each country is divided by a curtain wall that keeps the different elements and geographical landscapes separate. Some are rainy and mountainous -- others, dry and arid. Specifically designed to cater to the species living in each different location, every country is perfectly suited for its inhabitant. The dragons, who need sunlight to survive, are located in the dessert. Humans who rely on cattle and farming are in a green, lush plains. But then something begins to destroy the curtain walls separating the different climates, causing all of the species to begin to deteriorate. The destruction of the curtain walls wreaks havoc in each country as normally dessert lands become rainy and mild, tropical climates turn bitterly cold. Humans, centaurs, aliens, and dragons all begin to suffer and die.

Later on in the series, the main characters discover that the world was actually built by a superior alien race -- it is a giant machine that is slowly breaking down, destroying the curtain walls in the process and mixing the weather. The Loremasters of the Shadowleague are specially selected members of each race on the world, the gate keepers of the knowledge of the planet. They alone know the secret to penetrate the curtain walls, as they alone have shared knowledge of all the different countries, so of course they alone can save the planet.

It sounds cheesy, I know. It is a straight up adventure fantasy, but a good one, with likable, well-rounded characters and an enjoyable, entertaining storyline. Simple enough, but a quick read and one that keeps the reading interested.

lesen

This started out as a post about the Shadowleague trilogy (original intent, anyway), and ended up like this:

The entire living room is filled with books: only science fiction. Four bookshelves, and we still had to stick two more in the spare bedroom.

And that only covers science fiction/fantasy. The rest of the spare bedroom is children and young adult. The dining room is poetry. The bedroom is just two shelves of all the books we want to read "soon." The basement is fiction, but only the first three shelves of it. Behind the fake bamboo room in the basement, Neil has 40,000 comics and graphic novels.

And I still haven't gotten to the boxes of books we have yet to unpack -- history, philosophy, the rest of fiction. We can't use the garage, because it is filled with bookshelves we won't have room for until we finish the basement.

It's kind of disgusting, really. This is why I sit at home, alone on Friday nights, reading and writing about what I read.