A reminder: Semicolon hosts the Saturday Review of books. I found this through Mental Multivitamin, and I enjoy the community of reviewers. It’s interesting to read differing and similar views of books I’ve read, and check out reviews of books I want to read.
Nathan from TeeVee dishes on his geek love for Austen and the PBS Masterpiece’s The Complete Austen, which I’ve been (mostly) enjoying. I agree that Olivia Williams was great in Miss Austen Regrets, and that the series as a whole is well done and enjoyable. I don’t, though, think Gillian Anderson is doing herself any favors revisiting Scully-red hair, and I found the Mansfield Park production in general, and Billie Piper in particular, wanting.
Around the time Guppy was born, I spent a fair amount of time participating in online reading challenges. I soon discovered that these interfered with the spontaneity and enjoyment of my reading. Sometimes, though, the challenges are enough in line with what I want to read anyway, or they give enough leeway to choose, that they still draw me. Such was last year’s From the Stacks challenge, which I read about at one of my favorite book blogs, Pages Turned.
I set out the books I wanted to read. Instead of the suggested five, I chose ten–five graphic and five prose novels. I took several pictures, trying to get the book ambience just right. (Does it strike anyone else that the shelf pics of book blogs are something akin to book porn?) I then found I can’t post pictures on my blog, which is just as well. I’m hard put enough to post regularly without something else to obsess nerdishly over. It is also just as well, because of those ten, I read only five. Of those, I loved only one; several of the others I didn’t even much like. Additionally, I veered off my list to read seven others from the shelves, nearly all of which I liked a great deal. (Several of which were quick-read graphic novels, in case this sounds more impressive than it is.)
I am reminded once again that online book challenges aren’t for me. I’ve begun using Gurulib to log my books and my considerable to read/watch/listen titles. My hope for this year (I prefer hopes to goals; I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a simple transposition makes them gaols) is to read two shelf books a month, to continue my library patronage, and to keep book buying to a minimum. I count over 100 shelf books (gulp) so even if I manage my hope, I still will reduce my home stash by less than a quarter. But this is my annual memo to self that I hope to shop and select from the home shelves as I can, rather than haring off after every challenge and alluring coupon.
A reminder: Semicolon hosts the Saturday Review of books. I found this through Mental Multivitamin, and I enjoy the community of reviewers. It’s interesting to read differing and similar views of books I’ve read, and check out reviews of books I want to read.
I recently finished The Woman in White and Wide Sargasso Sea. The paperback editions of each had dreadful covers of television or movie adaptations. How, I ask you, am I supposed to take books seriously that look like this:
or this:
?
I think I’m to be commended that I recognized the value of both books in spite of their covers. I’ve only seen one photo tie-in cover that I ever liked, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje:
Semicolon hosts the Saturday Review of books. I found this through Mental Multivitamin, and I enjoy the community of reviewers. It’s interesting to read differing and similar views of books I’ve read, and check out reviews of books I want to read.
Today is the birthday of M. Giant, the author of the very funny Velcrometer. Almost six years ago, M. said to G. Grod and me, “Hey, I started a blog. Check it out.” I did, and thought, “Hey, I can do that. Not nearly as hilariously, but still, it probably won’t completely suck.” So if you occasionally enjoy this weblog, you have M. Giant to thank for it. And if you hate the blog, well, I really don’t understand why you haven’t clicked away by now, but don’t blame M. All responsibility accrues to me for that.
I noted earlier this week that M Giant wants us to pre-order his book from amazon to spike his rating. I’m off to do just that. Happy birthday M, and happy weekend, all.
PBS’s Masterpiece presents Sundays with Jane during the first four months of 2008. Small screen adaptations (some new, some previous) air each Sunday, with subsequent reruns throughout the week.
January 13, 2008 (and this week): Persuasion
January 20, 2008: Northanger Abbey
January 27, 2008: Mansfield Park
February 3, 2008: Miss Austen Regrets
February 10, 17, and 24: Pride and Prejudice (1995, with Colin Firth as Darcy)
March 23, 2008: Emma (1996 with Kate Beckinsale in the title role)
March 30, April 6, 2008: Sense and Sensibility
Consider reading all the novels. I finally did so last year, and enjoyed them a good deal.
The author of Velcrometer, M Giant’s birthday is this Friday, the 18th of January. He knows what he wants:
Pre-order my book. No, not yet!
My birthday is Friday, January 18th. On that day, let’s say in the afternoon, I would love it if as many people as possible would go to Amazon and preorder my book, A TV Guide to Life. You may think this is a poorly veiled ploy to artificially inflate my Amazon ranking for a brief moment. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is in fact a bare-ass naked ploy. You want in?
I’m thinking 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central Time will be the ideal window. I’d love to just say 3:00 p.m. straight up, but I don’t know how many of you have Amazon blocked on your work computers.
M. is a funny, fine writer, and a good guy to boot. Consider buying his book this Friday.
Semicolon hosts The Saturday Review of Books. It has a good community of readers; check it out.
I started annual book challenges after I had my first child. My time was no longer my own, and I wanted to retain reading as a priority. I also wanted to know more about what I read, since my memory took a hit it’s never quite recovered from. I wasn’t re-reading a lot of books, and I kept buying books even thought my to-be-read (TBR) pile was already precarious.
Tracking the books I read has helped me become a more conscious, and therefore better, reader. Giving brief reviews hones my writing and editing skills, plus allows me to share what I’ve read. This has resulted in many enjoyable virtual conversations about books. Reading in a vacuum is no fun, and my book group only meets every six weeks. I have re-read many of my books, allowing me a deeper understanding and appreciation of them. Further, I’ve stopped buying as many books, and have finally made inroads, however shallow, into my unread books. I’m also reading more nonfiction, and more challenging fiction, then I have in the past.
Last year I read 62 different books, one of them twice. My goal was fifty; a book a week makes my identity as a reader more real to me, though the number is arbitrary. 14 were from the shelf, 17 were borrowed or gifted, 21 were new purchases, and 11 were re-reads. This felt like a good balance, though next year I hope to read more from the shelf and purchase fewer books. 31 of these were fiction; 20 were graphic novels; 12 were nonfiction. I don’t enjoy nonfiction as much as fiction, so this accurately reflects my interests; I’m a novel gal.
I’ve begun to catalog my books at Gurulib. I chose this site because it is free and there is no limit, plus it allows for categorizing movies, another of my hobbies/passions. You can see last year’s books on my Gurulib shelf. I also have shelves for this year, and a tentative TBR pile. I know and admire many readers who take on many challenges and make comprehensive lists. I did that last summer, and I didn’t care for it. Reading is a conversation, to me. It doesn’t follow a set path. It forks, diverges, and doubles back on itself, and I like to leave myself the freedom to read whatever I like next. I’ve found that I can rarely even follow through on what I think are my next three books.
Back to 2007’s books, though, for the ones that stood out.
Favorite new-to-me classic: Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast
Favorite re-read that brought so much more of the book to me: Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Favorite non-fiction book: Eat, Pray, Love. I read it twice.
Books I learned from: Kris Holloway’s Monique and the Mango Rains; Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea; Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Longest book: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. A favorite of a dear friend, I’d avoided it because of its length. I loved it.
Proudest reading accomplishment: finishing the six major Jane Austen novels. Still my favorite: Pride and Prejudice. But I loved researching and discussing Mansfield Park.
Favorite novel: The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. This got some mixed reviews, but I loved the idea of diverging fates, and Shriver’s execution of it in story and character.
Biggest disappointment: The Minx line of graphic novels from DC comics.
Favorite graphic book: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.
#63 in my 2007 book challenge was a re-read of Dickens’s classic Christmas Carol. The story is so well known, but lines such as this were what impressed me:
[it] had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar.
My favorite scene is one that’s often left out of adaptations. It’s with the ghost of Christmas Future, and has people haggling over a dead man’s belongings. It’s dark, and reminded me more than a little of characters of Shakespeare. If you think you know the story but haven’t read it, seek it out. I also recommend an edition with art by your favorite illustrator. Mine is the late Trina Schart Hyman. Her edition of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales is another good seasonal selection.
#s 61 and 62 in my 2007 book challenge were the graphic novel collections of Bryan K. Vaughan’s Runaways, volumes 2 and 3. I liked volume 1, but volumes 2 and 3 go on to better things, and cement this series as a solidly entertaining young-adult comic with engaging characters. The kids of the title found out in volume 1 that their parents were supervillains, and that they were being betrayed by one of their own. In volumes 2 and 3, the teens go on to forge their own identities, both as individuals and as a group. Runaways is funny, well written, but best of all it’s consistently surprising. There is lots going on, but narrative balls never get dropped. If you know a teen looking for something good to read, I highly recommend this series.
#60 in my 2007 book challenge was Curses, a graphic novel by Keven Huizenga. This is smart storytelling. Huizenga’s style is deceptively simplistic, more reminiscent of newspaper comics than literary comics like Maus and Persepolis. Yet its in these ranks it belongs, I feel. Mixing mythology, history, religion and the quotidian with a well done and accessible art style, Curses is not easily categorized, and certainly not easily forgotten. Not light reading, but worth the time and effort.
#59 in my 2007 book challenge was Sara Varon’s graphic novel Robot Dreams. It’s another lovely edition from First Second books, and it’s beautiful both in story and art, as well. Without words, Varon tells the story of a dog who builds a robot friend, only to lose him to unfortunate circumstance. The real versus the dream segments are well contrasted, and the story is sometimes sad but ultimately redemptive and very sweet. I loved it, and so does my 4yo son Drake; it’s a wonderful all-ages book.
#58 in my 2007 book challenge was Pretty Little Mistakes, by NPR’s Heather McElhatton. It’s a grown-up choose-your-own-adventure book. From the first page, the reader makes choices and follows each life story to one of 150 possible conclusions–homeless person, successful doctor, meth addict, and volcano researcher are just a few. My favorite ending involved a child with Down syndrome. That segment was lovely to read, but also interesting to consider in light of the choices that led there. Though a lark at first, the book is an exploration of free will vs. fate, with myriad imagined deities and afterlives (or lack thereof) thrown in for good measure. Not for those who want a complex main character and a linear plot, but entertaining and even at times provocative.
#57 in my 2007 Book Challenge was Mary Gaitskill’s Because They Wanted To, which has sat on my bookshelf in four different abodes over nearly ten years. I should have read this book when I bought it; it would have meant more to me then. Gaitskill’s stories are skillfully crafted and full of painstaking and painful emotional truths, many of which cut so deep I had to set down the book. But they are stories of young women, crashing bullishly through often brutal relationships. Frequently bruised literally and figuratively, though never entirely broken, Gaitskill’s girls are tough to take. Gaitskill’s honesty about the ugliness that underlies so much of sexual relationships is astonishing in its insight and clarity. Ultimately, though, I wanted to shake these girls and tell them to get on with it, to use their obvious talents and move toward maturity, rather than continuing to muck about in their own emotional detritus. Some books I read and appreciate more now that I’m older, married, and a mother. This, I would have appreciated more then, when such things were more relevant. Now, they just feel distant and somewhat poignant, which hardly does justice to the potential power of these stories.
A disturbing recollection: before the book was published, a male friend, with whom I often discussed books, gave me a photocopy of the story “The Girl on the Plane” and said he’d thought it good. Re-reading this story, about a man who confesses to participating in a gang rape of a friend of his, I am bewildered that I did not take offense at this at the time. WTF?
#56 in my 2007 book challenge is Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together. Get it together he does. This hilarious indie series of graphic novels gets funny again after the relative disappointment of, Volume 3, Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness. Several times reading this book I had to close it and put it down to laugh. This was great fun, and yet another example of a good young adult graphic novel, with fun and funny characters. It doesn’t try to be realistic or serious, and it succeeds spectacularly. Scott Pilgrim, the well-meaning but uncomplicated protagonist, is dating Ramona Flowers, and has to defeat each of her seven evil ex-boyfriends in video-game style fights. Oops, make that “exes.” Scott is also being followed by a mysterious ninja, and about to be evicted from the apartment he shares with gay friend Wallace Wells. Seventeen-year-old Knives Chau claims she’s over Scott, but is she? A girl from Scott’s past arrives to complicate things between him and Ramona. Oh, and Scott tries to get a job. This is only part of what goes on, but the chaos is entertaining and well depicted in O’Malley’s utterly engaging art. I feared for this series after the last book since I loved #s 1 and 2 so much, but I’m happy and sad once again. Happy that Scott Pilgrim got his funny back, but sad because I know it’s going to be a long time till #5.
#55 in my 2007 book challenge was the Marvel graphic novel Runaways Vol. 1. It’s a hefty hardcover, with a faux-leather cover, good paper stock, and it includes the first 18 issues of the series. Now _this_ is a good book for young adults. A group of California kids learn that their parents are up to something more sinister than an investment group. The kids run away together. They try to come to terms with their own abilities, while plotting what to do about their super villain parents. The group of kids is likable. The parents are more interesting and complex than they at first appear. The dialog, look, and relationships among the kids is also realistic. There’s some funny stuff, and some dark stuff, and almost all of it’s good stuff. This book was a lot of fun, and I look forward to reading the next volume, which has been sitting on my shelf far too long.
#54 in my 2007 book challenge was Good as Lily, the final book I’m going to read from the DC graphic novel imprint, Minx. Here’s why.
List of Young Adult Novel Cliches:
Smart, decent looking heroine: check
geeky boy with crush on her: check
gorgeous guy that she has crush on: check
good looking but not-too-bright mean girl as nemesis: check
diminishment of hostility between heroine and mean girl when they have moment of empathy: check
To its credit, Good as Lily had some nice detail about Korean-American kids, as well as a magical realism premise that might have been interesting had it been able to be explored in more depth. As it is, though, I found Good as Lily is about as good as the other books in the Minx line: OK. Kim, Hamm, and the other creators who work on Minx books are clearly talented, yet I think they’re being constrained by the short length and YA conventions. The books might be OK for younger girls, but I haven’t found the complexity or depth for them to engage older readers.