June Reading

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Read this for book club. So many people have praised it, it's won numerous awards, but for me, it was a total dud. Mostly boring, extremely pedantic (even the Bible doesn't have preface that says, "This story will make you believe in God"!), and unsatisfying. Martel is a wonderful writer who can create beautiful, evocative passages, which just makes this book even more disappointing. Martel's lyrical and descriptive writing style was tainted by the story and message of this novel. Number 12 on my challenge.

Unnatural History by Jonathan Green

I bought this book because it seemed like an awesome steampunk book that had everything I wanted: a 150 year old Queen Victoria kept alive by steam power, dinosaurs on display at the London Zoo, world-wide worship of Charles Darwin. Too bad the writing was deplorable. Cliche phrases EVERYWHERE, oddly choreographed fight scenes, long, boring descriptive passage about men's clothing. If the writing had been better, I would have LOVED this book. Too bad it wasn't. Number 13 on my challenge.



Mini Challenge - Harry Potter Reread
In two weeks, I will be in Orlando, Florida, standing inside the Hogwarts Castle, shaking and crying as all my dreams come true. To prepare for this life-culminating experience, I have rewatched all the Harry Potter movies and am now working my way through the book series. I've got until July 15 to reread the whole series. One book down already, and I'm halfway through HP&CoS. Look for new posts about this mini challenge.

What I've Read Since March

In other words, I'm really bad at updating, and now I'm making up for it with one giant post.

Everything Is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger
A really interesting study on the effect of digital storage on our perceptions about reality. Also taught me everything I'd ever need to know about bar codes.

Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers
Number 6 on my challenge. Another wonderful book from Walter Moers, although this one was very different from The City of Dreaming Books. The beginning was a bit slow, but once the action started, it didn't stop. This was a true action-packed adventure story filled with sword fights, monsters that are born from blood, and evil mechanical villains. Moers is really successful at crafting characters that creep into your heart without you realizing it. Rumo, though he says little and kills a lot, turns out to be quite a lovable character. I've got another Moers book sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read.


The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
Read for book club, but I'm still going to count it as #7 on my challenge. My first Vonnegut, and it was highly recommended, but I still have mixed feelings about this book. There were parts that I loved, but I had some problems with Vonnegut's writing style. It didn't leave me exhilarated, but overall, it was mostly enjoyable. I'm not itching to pick up another Vonnegut book in the near future though.

The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan
These count as numbers 8-11 on my challenge. I read the first book in the series (The Lightning Thief) a couple months ago. I enjoyed the book enough to read the rest of the series this summer, and I'm glad I did. The second book (The Sea of Monsters) had some of the same problems that the first one did--a bit slow and predictable--but the last three were very fun. Really excited, more complicated, but still filled with all those modernized mythical characters that made the first book funny and entertaining. These books were really quick reads (I'm talking 2-3 hours each). I'd recommend them for both older children and adults.

Massive Update, aka Vacation = Reading

Oh, I so fail on updating.

Drift and Mastery by Walter Lippmann

We're all adrift in the churning sea of modernity, blah blah blah, more "Lost Generation" bullshit.

When America Was Great by Kevin Mattson

America was once great. Now it is not. You have the conservatives to thank for that. True facts.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Number 3 on my reading challenge. Overall, it was pretty enjoyable. It's not the "new Harry Potter" as everyone is touting it to be (I don't think anything ever will be.), but it was still a fun read. The characters were interesting, especially the "mythical" ones, and the plot was exciting. The writing wasn't very sophisticated, but hey, it was written for 11 year old boys. I also felt like it was too predictable; the plot twists weren't really surprises at all (at least, not for me). And I don't buy the argument that "it's a children's book." There's no reason why a book written for a young demographic can't be innovative and well-written. I most enjoyed Riordan's imaginative and modern rethinking of the gods and the things associated with them, especially Hades. The Lightning Thief was fun and light, so I plan on reading the rest of the series too.

Bonus critique: The movie sucked balls. I have no idea who wrote the script, but I know that they were on crack when they did so. Every element of the book was changed, even things as basic as the characters and the entire plot. It was a ridiculous, embarrassing adaptation. Although, I will say that the younger actors did well with what they had. I hope Riordan kicked the movie studio's ass.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Number 4 on my challenge. This novel is sheer, beautiful genius. It is well-praised and frequently-purchased for a reason. It is heartbreaking, terrifying, and thought-provoking all at once. McCarthy's prose feels more like poetry, and some passage just hit you in the gut, like this one: "Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it."

Some people might be put off by the lack of "context" or an explanation about what freaking happened to the world and why people are eating each other. For me, however, it just added to the desolate mood of the whole novel. Since the characters have no future, they have no real past either, and even their present is a mere paltry sham of existence.

I embarrassed myself by reading the end of this novel in public. The guy in the airplane seat next to me was pretty freaked out when I almost started crying. I recommend this book to everyone, seriously--everyone. It is that good.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters

Number 5 for my challenge. It's no secret that I LOVED Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I thought I would be equally pleased by the latest Quirk Classic, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. But it was not to be so.

Certainly, part of the reason I liked this less that P&P&Z is because I prefer the original Pride and Prejudice to the original Sense and Sensibility. However, I felt like Winters' adaptation went too far. P&P&Z was most definitely a Jane Austen novel with zombies plopped in, but Winters changed so many things about the original text that at times, it was unrecognizable as a work of Austen. Instead of being Jane Austen with some sea monsters thrown in, it became the Ben H. Winters' novel of sea monsters, pirates, island natives, and undersea adventures with a dash of Jane Austen thrown in.

I also feel like Seth Graeme-Smith had a much better understanding and appreciation of Austen's original work and characters than Winters. I mentioned in this blog post that the alterations in P&P&Z feel natural because Graeme-Smith has such a good grasp of the characters. That is definitely not the case with S&S&SM.

I really wish that this book turned out better, but I still intend to continue reading Quirk Classics. Dawn of the Dreadfuls looks awesome, and Android Karenina is supposed to be filled with steampunk. Yay!

Some more Liberalism, Homo Ludens, and Candide

Oh, man. Lots of stuff since I last updated.

Candide by Voltaire

Number two on my Reading For Fun Challenge. Short, witty, and pretty dirty if you squint the right way. Although it's sharp satirical edge has been blunted by the passage of time and subsequent changes in society, its central message still holds true: Stop complaining and do something about it! Maybe more people today should quit whining and read this book. Oh, if only El Dorado was a real place, I'd pack my bags today.

Critical Americans by Leslie Butler

Glaring oversights. Far too long for too little discussion. Apparently economic matters didn't concern Civil War-era liberal reformers.

Homo Ludens by J. Huizinga

Every aspect of our society is derived from play, even (especially) our law system. Huizinga's work is insightful, especially the opening chapters. His argument was radical about fifty years ago, but it is fairly integrated into our cultural mindset today. Still, its worth a quick look.

The Age of Reform by Richard Hofstadter

This well-known work details the various reform movements from the post-Civil War Era to the New Deal. I'm so not a historian, but his arguments seemed well-founded. A fairly easy read, considering it is basically a history textbook from the 1950's. I would have like more information about the New Deal. And man, do I hate Populists now.

Two Books on the American Revolution and Liberalism

I read the first book (with an enormously long title) for a class on the history
of liberalism. Joyce Appleby’s Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical
Imagination (see, told you the title is long) was rather bland, and not a good place to start if you are just trying the get the basics about the historical ideological beginnings of liberalism and the American Revolution (which I was). It was not very coherent at all; it was more like a bunch of essays thrown together than a cohesive study. However, the analysis is well founded and easily readable.

I also read Steven M. Dworetz’s The Unvarnished Doctrine for the same class, and it was leaps and bounds above the Appleby book. This is such a weird thing to say, but it is a wonderfully edited book. A single line of coherency and consistency runs through every chapter, linking them together. I had no doubts about the overall argument of the entire work. The chapter on methodology was really interesting; I always enjoy seeing someone else’s research process, especially in a field I’m not familiar with, like history. This book is well written, and although it really focuses on the influence of Locke on the American Revolution, I feel like it also gives a well-rounded account of other ideological inspirations.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

As promised, here’s my review of Sense and Sensibility. I really should have put up this discretion before I started reviewing books, but oh well, too late now. I have a sort of strange way of looking at books. As a literature major, I look at many technical aspects of what I read. This includes pacing, diction, characterization, historical context, etc. However, I’m also a bad literature student in that I’m also very subjective. I have a personal investment in everything I read so I also review and rate books according to my own personal response and feelings. As I have been told by many a professor, I should not think of the characters as real people, but as projections of an author’s motives and professional desires. I’ll stick with that in my papers, but all that crap is going out the window for this blog. Also, all my reviews will contain spoilers; you have been warned.

Now, continuing on to S&S. I’ll preface my review by saying I have a love/hate relationship with Jane Austen: I love Pride and Prejudice, and I hate Persuasion. I’m all for quiet and demure romances, but for me to be invested or engaged in a love story, it needs to have some degree of passion and likeable characters. Sense and Sensibility is pretty much lacking in both.

S&S was Austen’s first published novel, and as the novel was more of an intangible and fledgling idea rather than a full-scale genre, I can forgive her of several technical failures. While I may be able to forgive the author, however, I still can’t ignore the book’s problems. The opening is rather slow. I still can’t decide whether the book has not enough exposition or too much of it. We do, however, meet our two female leads, Marianne, who’s like that really happy person that everyone knows and secretly hates, and Elinor, who is intelligent and likeable, but also quite dull. We also meet a third sister, Margaret, who disappears for the rest of the novel because she’s apparently too young to be important at all.

Austen’s social commentary starts right away, but rather than the acerbic yet subtle witticisms seen in the author’s later work, the social commentary in S&S is like an in-your-face explosion. The narrator seems rather cranky, the characters are far too exaggerated and unrealistic, and everyone says “monstrous” a lot. This novel reads more like a sarcastic satire than a dry, tongue-in-cheek observation of Regency life. It’s a little off-putting to say the least.

The male leads are even less appealing than the female ones. Willoughby is attractive but an ass. Edward is nice but boring and spineless. Colonel Brandon is the only interesting and likeable man in the whole novel, but he’s essentially ignored for most of it.

The plot of this novel really falls short. The central plot between Willoughby and Marianne is admittedly pretty engaging and will keep you turning pages. However, after the climax and the departure of the sisters from town, the pacing really begins to just drag on. On and on. So I’ll just skip to the end. Attention-spoilers coming up.

I hated the end. Willoughby is entirely irredeemable in my book. So is Edward. I really did not like Edward; he was extremely boring and annoying, with almost no redeeming qualities. I do not think it is honorable to marry someone you dislike, thus creating an unhappy future for both, just because you said you would. Honestly, I was hoping that Marianne would die so that Elinor and Colonel Brandon could end up together. While Marianne does become a likeable character in the end, I still do not see how she and Colonel Brandon could ever be compatible and fall in love. (Maybe if Austen had actually depicted their romance rather than just tacking it on to the end, I wouldn’t be so pissed.)

To wrap up this review: Sense and Sensibility was not a torture to read. It did have some very good moments, and I enjoyed reading most of it, but it will never hold a place in my heart like Pride and Prejudice.

2010 Challenge

I am challenging myself to read 20 books of my choice during 2010. As a literature major, I will most likely read over a hundred books this upcoming year, so a 50 or 100 book challenge would be more like an occupational necessity. During the semesters I usually get so caught up in my class readings that I tend to forget to read for pleasure alone. So this year I am dedicated to reading at least 20 books that have nothing to do with classes or research.

I've decided not to count Good Omens as part of this challenge since I started that book in 2009. First up will be Sense and Sensibility.

I'm also challenging myself to blog about every book I read, even ones for research, even if it's only a short entry. I think this will be most helpful for research actually because when you read 15 books within the course of a week, it all starts to blend together. My blog for S&S will probably be coming up this weekend, so look for it!

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I had heard such wonderful things about Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s collective work, Good Omens, that I just had to read it. While it was not the most hilarious novel I’ve ever read, it did guaranty quite a few laughs. I wouldn’t necessarily call this book a satire or a critique of Christianity; that would almost be giving it too much credit. Rather, it pokes fun at the absurdities and convoluted tenets of both divine and human nature.

As can be expected with these two writers, the characters are the best part of the book. I have to admit, the Antichrist grew on me, as did Dog, his hellhound. Aziraphale and Crowley (whose name never fails to make me smirk) are both so full of fail, but that’s why you’ve got to love them. You even have to love Agnes Nutter, who is hardly seen on screen, but whose presence looms over everything, because she seems like your own half-crazy great-grandma who ate the candy cane with plastic still on. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, depicted in a very modern and human way, were exquisitely creepy.

My only real complaint with this novel is that it is a bit tedious. This isn’t really a fault of the authors, but of the subject matter. It’s a story about Armageddon, quite a dense topic. One could get easily worn out by this book if it weren’t for the fantastic characters and plot. If you can strap yourself in for a moderately long haul, this book is definitely worth a read.