The Month in Review and of Thing to Come

My least favorite time of year is over and that's a good thing.  Holidays aside, December was a rather dull month (and all the activity that the holiday did bring wasn't exactly positive nor exciting).  As you can tell from my blogging activity I haven't been reading a whole bunch.  It's an odd lull I'm in.  I know that I've never done well reading more than one book at a time, yet that is what I'm doing at the present.  Stranger still, I'm really enjoying them both books I'm currently reading: I just don't really feel like reading a bunch at the moment and I don't think forcing myself to do so will yield positive results either.

I received one book--as in one--for Christmas.  This fact throws into the sharpest of relief how poorly the people who claim to know me best know me.  So a great big ole thank you and internet hugs to Maria for Divergent by Veronica Roth.  I'm excited about this book for two reasons: I know nothing about it, and my sister is starting it soon so we can read it together.     

When I get back to How to Read Literature LIke a Professor I don't think I'll be any worse off for the time away, but I can admit I'm doing an injustice to How to Paint a Dead Man.  As I said before, both are very good and in the case of the latter by Sarah Hall I'll certainly be looking into more of her books, reading just ain't a priority right now.  

I saw the second part of The Hobbit and was bored to the point of near constipation.  I saw Ender's Game and was pleasantly surprised.  Movies are all well and good, but it's getting harder and harder for me to justify the money for the theatre experience.  

I had really good intentions last month with outlining my reading goals and expectations for this month but yeah… none of that happened.  No big surprise that I'll pass on making similar statements for January, but I am expecting to read a lot of science fiction in the near future.  That's both exciting and scary.  I'll hope for the best.    

The strangest and best news of the month came a from a friend who I convinced to read the Sinai Tapestry by Edward Whittemore.  She loves it and I knew she would, but she's not reading it, she's listening to it as an audio book!  A writer who has been twice out of print now not only has a third chance at deserved attention but a new generations treatment at that.  

I've said it before: read Wittemore.

Month in Review

The greatest thing that happened in November may have been the greatest thing to happen this year: I found a new used book and it is quite literally right across the street.  I thought Bookmiser went out of business no less than twelve years ago, seems they only moved to a new location and never told me about it.

It's odd for me to go to a used book store and have zero store credit but hopefully that will soon change; it's not as if lack of credit impeded me from buying…  This store is beautiful.  New and used together on the same shelve; immaculate organization, neat, clean, tidy as could be (and if you've ever been in one of 'those other' kind of used bookstores you'll know the value of neat clean and tidy although I'll be the first to admit that 'dust, mildew, and cluttered' certainly has it's charm.)  I bought The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys both by Michael Chabon because he's awesome.  I remembered the title and positive reviews of Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner.  Perhaps that goes to show the value of a great title or maybe the benefit of being shortlisted for the Giller Prize.  Either way, the title stuck.

I bought six books in total this month, which is at least six too many considering what I still own and haven't read.

I read all of four books this month: this is a A LOT considering my recent reading fatigue.  I owe The Parrish Lantern and huge thank you for bring Full Blood by John Siddique and Warriors by David Lloyd to my attention.  The Tombs of Atuan by Ursual K Le Guin was perhaps the best and most boring book I've read this year.  Soon, I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman was phenomenal for more reasons than I can recall and launched a new name to my 'immediate read' list.    

December brings the holiday madness… blah…  Hopefully it will go over as well as Thanksgiving did.  In terms of reading, I'm currently in the middle of two books that I'm finding excellent: How To Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall and How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas Foster ; only one of those is non-fiction; color me surprised that I like it as much as I do.  For the rest of the month's reading I'm eyeing Thomas Lux's God Particles and, for some reasons, werewolves in London has a certain holiday appeal to me so I'll dive into Martin Millar's Curse of the Wolf Girl since I liked the first book so much.

Can anyone make sense of that last part?  Cause I can't…

In rereading this post, I see that my reading is all over the map!  And I honestly think that's a good thing.

Soon, I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

At any given time, I reserve the right to defend Soon, I Will Be Invincible as my single favorite book.

There are superheroes with super powers; a mad scientist, super villains with horribly failed experiments; there's government funding; fairy magic; futuristic tech; secret identities; the undying quest for invincibility and world domination; and what's most important: costumes.

Generally I hate books with two separate narratives.  I hate this mechanic only because I more often than not spend too much time trying to see how and when the two stories will come together.  This is my personal reading quark, if I'm going to get two narratives I like them to be completely divergent.  I was so caught up in reading Soon, I Will Be Invincible, I was so engrossed in enjoying it that I forgot that I hate books with two separate narratives.          

The story and the cast of characters essentially revolves around a core group of prep school kids who won all the yearbook superlatives.  Either by demonic or alien intervention, sheer will and determination, third partied accident, or self inflicted curiosity they all became 'powered' individuals.

The first story thread involves The Champions, the pseudo-defunct, generational superhero squad.  There are lots of superheros but these guys are the elite.  They have a few new members, they are short a few old vanguards, and worst of all they've no reason to come together.

The second story involves Doctor Impossible, the smartest man in the world though that is not his super power.  He's in prison waiting his chance to get out and take over the world.  He's done this before, but mitigating circumstances have always risen.  But his newest plan can't fail due to an odd stroke of luck not even the doctor can put together: the literally invincible CoreFire, Impossible's nemesis, his greatest invention, and the strongest of the Champions, has disappeared.

Watching these powered individuals interact is amazing yet scarce as this is anything but an extroverted action movie type book.  Both narratives are in first person.  We are either in the mind of Doctor Impossible (which isn't as scary as one would think) or Fatale's, the newest champion and a cyborg possibly of Impossible's creation.  Fatale is ever concerned with fitting in, both with people and The Champions and Impossible is angry that he can't be accepted as an evil genius and have his way.

Stereotypes are avoided in surprising ways.  CoreFire is out of the picture which is actually convenient for an invincible superhero and makes the rest of the team actually have to apply themselves.  Impossible may be tougher, stronger, and faster than most but his real superpower is mundane: his mind.  Impossible sees The Champions as politically favored vigilantes who like to pick on him for being smarter than they are.  The Champions see Impossible for what he is: too dangerous to trust with a thought let alone his freedom.  Watching Impossible throw down with The Champions is a wonder.

There were three wild cards that kept me guessing, all of which are related to Impossible: CoreFire and Fatale both of his creation, one invincible the other unknown, and Impossible's ex-girlfriend whose allegiance is unknown.  It all came together beautifully.

We see how an genius becomes evil and how being a superhero becomes trite and perhaps even how invincibility breeds boredom as opposed to the never finished quest for scientific genius.  A lot of superhero troupes are indulged but done so in very contemporary ways.  Grossman never quite mocks fantasy or sci-fi troupes as mercilessly as his brother does in The Magicians, nor does he endlessly subvert the troupes like Michael Swanwick, but Grossman does continually make us see superheros in a very contemporary light.  They get married and divorced, go on SNL, drink too much and become maudlin, or take a hiatus to the moon when the tabloid pressure gets to be too much; they go to maximum security prisons (somehow they protect their secret identities at all times).        

This book is as hysterical as it is literary.  It's not overly dark or gritty but neither are their costumes straight out of the wash.  I can't imagine there ever being a sequel but just as we know Impossible will never be wholly stopped there will always be resistance.  It was so good I may read it again.

Shopping

I did some spontaneous book buying today which is always fun and I ended up surprising myself quite a bit.

I started in a Barnes and Noble then remembered I'm broke and left rather quickly going down the road to my favorite used book store.  The Books for Less at Mall of Georgia is still my favorite location but the second store in Alpharetta is growing on me.

I didn't have anything in mind to buy but by the time I was done it was rather clear that I wanted comfort food reading material, which for me means fantasy.  I've sucked at picking fantasy literature that I can actually get through and enjoy for about five years now, but that hasn't stopped me from trying.

Melanie Rawn is a name I've read in passing for a while so I saw her name on a shelf and reached for a book at random.  What I pulled down was The Dragon's Touchstone by Irene Radford.  I feel that choice is destined to be serendipitous.  What's more is I read twenty pages and never once cringed; so I'm hoping for good things.  Reaching a second time for Rawn I pulled down Dragon Prince.  Both of these books have covers that are the most awesomely 80's style fantasy art ever.  The Dragon's Touchstone has a bunch of dudes fighting in armor and two wizards hurling green fire-smoke at each other and a dragon.  It's possible that there has never been more testosterone on a book cover than this.  Dragon Prince is no less awesome but a bit more cliched.  There are two dragons standing up have a Godzilla-esque slap fight in the background and in the front is a white dude with a sword that kinda looks like John Tesh.  For reasons unknown to me he doesn't have a shirt on.  He's also got this hot chick draped all over him who is wearing a nighty.  It's a mash-up cover of a bodice ripper/fantasy.  (Which is the embodiment of what everyone whats to read whether they admit it or not.)  With covers like that they have to be good, right?

More happy happenstance lead me to Litany of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe; even better, it's the Guild American edition that matches my copy of Epiphany of the Long Sun.  Nothing beats finding a matching set in a used book store.  Now that I have the first two books in the series I can actually--you know...--start reading.

I got Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke because I loved Inkheart so much.  Even if the second book in the series stalled a bit for me I have to read this one.

The only real impulse buy was How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster.  Why?  Because it was on the checkout counter when I was ready to go and it was two dollars...  Aside from the fact that I don't really read non fiction, this sounds like the most boring, killjoy book ever.  Don't be surprised if I never read this one.

Some very gripping words

This is a taste, a teaser as to where I've been lately and what I've been reading.

Adultery by John Siddique

Finally I reached across the table
to touch your face, the pads of my fingers
on your forehead first, drawing down near
the inner edge of your ear and under
to hold your chin, lifting your head slightly
as if I'm about to kiss you.

We are burning as if we are adulterers.
The table is between us to keep us apart.
I think if we are going to have to pay for this,
I want to have at least touched your skin.
we do not kiss, don't go home, or make love,
we drink tea--green for you, regular black tea
for me.  I eat, you say you can't.

We are adulterers of talk and desire,
pretending that by not coming together
we are somehow still standing on the good side
of the line.

we sit amongst other lovers, no one know
we are not supposed to be, say my name, you say,
and I say it.  I want to show you so many things,
you say.  It goes right into the place
I have covered up and armoured, to pretend
it no longer existed.  
***


Memorial Day by John Siddique

Sunday late Spring sun ascends
over section 60 of Arlington Cemetery,
as girl scouts plant small plastic flags
on the rows of graves.

Music of bugles, silence of prayers
learned especially for today.
Drums strike the air,
a beautiful war day across these States.

Sections 1 through 60; there could be
generations of families here,  
great-great-grandfather down to only son,
perhaps a daughter now.

The sun ascends t fall over the years
which march forward in dignified rows,
war by war, and white stone by white stone,
peace by peace, ending by ending.
***

Now if you really want you're mind blown I'll tell you that Siddique's book of poetry Full Blood contains stuff even better than what I've shared here.

The Month in Review

Oops...

This post nearly got away from me.

It would seem that I read all of three books this month which is at least two more than I can remember.  Short story collections by certain authors always hold such a powerful allure over me but it seems no matter when I get around to reading them that they always go by slowly with no regard to quality.  'The Matter of Seggri' from The Birthday of the World and other Stories by Ursula K Le Guin was certainly the best thing I read in October.  Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon and Fevre Dream by George Martin were both very good as well.

How do you like those three for reading variety?

I'm halfway through John Siddique's book of poetry Full Blood but other than that I've no idea what else I'll get through this month.

The National Book of the year award is going to be given out in a few days and while I usually read at least one from the list every read in a vain effort to keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary fiction it ain't gonna happen this year.  Tenth of December by George Saunders and Far Far Away by Tom McNeil were the two that caught my eye from the list.  I'll get to them eventually.  Of the others listed I've heard of Two Boys Kissing if only because I'm familiar with David Levithan so I'll probably get to it some time too.

In other 'book prize' news, I may also check out The Testament of Mary if only because it's so short and the premise is unique to say the least.  I've tried Toibin before and he wasn't for me, but I'm willing to give anyone a second shot.

I'm sure there is much more going on but I can't recall it now.  More later.    

The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin

I really wanted to start this review off by saying, 'The Birthday of the World and Other Stories is all about sex.'  In the broadest sense it's still true to say as much but it is equally inaccurate to say as the word sex can mean so many things.  So… The Birthday of the World and Other Stories is mostly all about sex.  Now, I'll try to clarify and define a word that has such great surface level transparency.    

Many of the stories in this collection read like narrative anthropological studies written by one not from the society being discussed.  The stories involve unique interactions between men and women and are usually observed by a foreigner. 

The strangest concept for me to wrap my head around was 'sedoretu' a marriage involving four people: one pair of men and one of women, where homo and heterosexual relationships are the norm.  The rules that govern these marriages as laid out in 'Unchosen Love' and 'Mountain Ways' were far more difficult to understand than the pairing of men and women.  Ultimately the concept was so well developed as to detract from the stories being told.  Who can have sex with whom and why, when, and why one person of the four will always be left out from having sex with one other weren't as interesting to me as the narrative that could have been told.  Perhaps as the concept is so foreign Le Guin wanted to be sure to establish clarity.  If so she succeeded, only at the expense of the narrative.  At times these two stories felt like reading rules or law more than a story.  

'Coming of Age in Karhide' was about the first sexual experience of a hermaphroditic person or perhaps 'gender neutral' is more accurate seeing as those on Karhide can choose and morph gender.  This story in particular presented it's ideas with no judging or favoritism.  It was fascinating and addicting in a sensual way that was very hard to describe as I can't exactly say what I was attracted to.  

The title story was nothing spectacular or original, but it had all the good familiar elements and was done extremely well.  A very primitive people on a very sheltered planet believe that God is a man and a woman; brother and sister and that only their hereditary line can perpetuate the lineage of God.  Such a belief is fraught with difficulties particularly when generations have passed and God has trouble reproducing.  A new God is crowned when outsiders arrive at the same time a usurper from within claims to be God.  This story was fun to read and very well done but not the highlight of the collection and probably the least in terms of dealing with sex.

'The Matter of Seggri' isn't merely a good story or the primary reason to buy this book; it's the kind of story that gets you thinking, makes you pause in your reading and leads you to ask questions not only about a fictional world and it's rules that Le Guin has created, but it also makes you do the same about our world that we live in.  

There is a complete segregation of the sexes on Seggri and a very large gender imbalance that heavily favors women.  Boys, being so rare, are prized family jewels until the age of eleven when they are sent off to live in the men's only citadels.  There, they further their status as trophies and seek glory in a dangerous and often gory sport, learn to become phenomenal dancers, and most importantly how to take care of bedroom matters.  Concepts as these are what makes men men on Seggri.  Women do everything else: anything that could be construed as work, business, or an enterprise beyond entertainment is solely relegated for women.  Men remain uneducated and ignorant of everything; they are prizes who develop a reputation and are sold nightly to women who have saved long, hard-earned money for a night of pleasure, or to conceive a child.  

Homosexuality is normal on Seggri in large part due to the seclusion of the men.  While it is seen as normal among the women and usually leads to marriage there are factions for and against it among the men even if both sides practice it.  It's the presentation of this story that makes it work as well as it does: the view from multiple outsiders trying to understand a bizarre foreign culture.  There are multiple reports about life on Seggri in this story; each gives enough to develop its' idea and collectively they paint a broad, detailed picture that indulges the imagination in the most realistic of ways.  Le Guin could set many a story or novel on Seggri.  This is not a happy story.  It's brutal, blunt and lacking anything that resembles sentiment.  It's disturbing and that is why it works.  

This collection isn't all about sex.  It's about gender, identity, and what intercourse means to an individual or to a society.  Not all the stories hit the mark (the closing story 'Paradises Lost' felt particularly cumbersome) but there are a few of those rare wonderful stories--of any length--that make you want to run out and tell people about what you're reading.  Those are the ones I've talked about here.  Now go read them for yourself and see why I feel as I do.