Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
I expected this to be like Edith Hamilton's Mythology. And I got what I wanted. It's a tightly paced retelling of the old Norse creation myths. Problem is, there aren't many of them. I suspect that's more to do with lack of surviving source material, given what Neil Gaiman says in the foreword. Maybe a long time ago there were scrolls and scrolls of Loki and Thor stories. Now all we've got are comic books. And if you're any fan of Marvel's interpretations, this is required reading.
The nice thing is that the re-tellings are up to date. I expected something Shakespearean or textbook-dry, like Hamilton. But the narration feels like an old storyteller sitting down by the fire, telling yarns to the grandchildren. The details behind Ragnarok and Fenrir and Loki are fascinating. It's funny and suspenseful and creative. There are one-liners and drama and character flaws & flawed actions. It's flavorful.
If you haven't picked up Neil Gaiman before, this might be a good one to try. The content doesn't consist of his usual dreamlike, abstract faire (that I'm not too fond of either). And you can tell it's material he's passionate about.
Tough Sh*t: Life Advice From a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good by Kevin Smith
One night, before going out, Kevin Smith asks his wife "Can I stare at your asshole while I jack off?"
So depending on your reaction to that line, you can judge your potential interest in this tome.
Kevin Smith is, uh, an interesting fellow. Well, what I can I say? He was one of the voices of a generation. You look at the nineties and people think Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, and Kevin Smith. The guy is, at heart, a storyteller. I could listen to him talk about Superman and the Giant Spider all day.
And that's what this book is. You get to hear how he met his wife, the making/publication of Red State, the Southwest "too fat to fly" fiasco, the up and down relationship with The Weinstein Company. The nice thing about Smith is he's able to admit his wrongs and justify his rights. He never assumes he's the smartest guy in the room and always gets feedback on if he's showing his own ass (because that's easy to do when your content consists of stinkpalming stoners and Carlin-esque religion satire).
The book is equal combinations of crudeness and heart, black humor and childlike wonder. It's a good book for insight on the Hollywood scene, especially for potential indie film-makers. And it gives more inspiration that "you can make it" than "this is how to make it" (which is really all luck more than anything).
The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War by Michael Sharra
(unfinished)
I might have finished if I hadn't realized there were SparkNotes for it. Also a movie. Also, I didn't care enough about the characters to know if they lived or died. And these are real characters that I know if they lived or died (spoiler: they all died... eventually).
I put it on my to-read list because I heard that this is the book that inspired Joss Whedon to make Firefly. Well, I couldn't pass up that opportunity. But when I got to 40%, I realized I had gotten everything the book had to offer. The prose is dry and the characters read robotically. Maybe that's to do with their military upbringing, but it's hard to sympathize with the team that's not fighting for the right side, even if they may or may not "believe" in that side's cause (which is stupid, but I'm digressing).
If this was meant to teach me about war novels, I learned that they are boring. The plot is mechanical. Arguing about strategy--"take that hill." We took that hill. Our guys got shot. We shot their guys. Argue, argue. Decide on more strategy. It's how I imagine Warhammer novels are.
And then there's the constant self-doubt of anyone in power. I imagine that's true, but it gets annoying to constantly read about. The historical factor isn't enough to pull me in either. Plus I know how it ends. So what did I come here for?
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
The city government grants a con artist a second lease on life if he can get the post office up and running. The mail system's fallen into disrepair since the clacks (a telegraph/semaphore system) went up. But the evil business that owns them has been embezzling and employee safety has paid the price. So it's David vs. Goliath as the thief has to figure out not only how to eschew his criminal background, but also how to deliver floors full of letters as he avoids the shadowy businessmen.
This is an adventure story. It's not dissimilar to any other Pratchett - if you've read one of them, you've know what to expect. And this won't convince you otherwise. I picked it up because it's the highest rated/ranked Discworld novel in the series, and thought I should read this if not any others.
I consider Pratchett to the be the fantasy equivalent of Douglas Adams. That means events take a backseat to world-building and situation-explaining. Plot pacing is sacrificed for humor. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Written humor is hard because you lose all elements of timing. So if you can get a chuckle out of anyone, you've accomplished a great deal. And this got several chuckles from me.
The key negative is the unlikable characters. The con man doesn't really want to be there. The government is forcing him in this job on threat of death. His chief ally at the post office is an old man who'd rather see tradition served than do any work. Plus a young man who might be autistic (he collects pins and goes into fits when routine is broken). No one is particularly charming, but Iron Man seems to get away with it. The other problem is too many subplots, due to the too many characters, which is par for the course in Discworld.
It's a book of contradictions, but a solid four stars.
13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
(unfinished)
It's full of cliches. The story makes a promise in the first chapter that doesn't get fulfilled or hinted at for the next four or five. Which means it's a cheat.
This girl is apparently the one who can see fairies and thus under their constant threat (because she could reveal their existence). This means a bunch of hijinks that can't be explained has already happened and the mother has no choice but to send her troubled child to live with her grandmother in the country. There's a neighbor boy who's kind of annoying, weird neighbors, parents who don't understand, falling in love with a library, and a witch who gives her a trinket for no reason. Didn't I see this already in Coraline?
There's more narration than dialogue. No one has any personality. The character makes no connections or relationships in this new setting. Events happen without being rooted in some cause. The protagonist has no "save the cat" moment. She's a whiny inactive protagonist. And lots of telling. There's even a gypsy woman (and I thought that term was racist).
This is just some thirteen-year-old's badly conceived fantasy.
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
All the characters here are broken. And thus, interesting. But this is not a fantasy novel. This is a standard YA novel with real-life problems. Non-real elements are minor and don't affect the plot.
Something's going on in the background of said plot. Something "Harry Potter" or "Buffy" involving a Big Bad and Apocalypses. But that's not what the story is about. This is about the extras that end up in the B-roll, when the cameras pan over the ambulances. Who are those people?
One is gay. One is going to a war-torn third world country after graduation. One is a recovering anorexic. And one (the main character) has a compulsion disorder. There is magic in the world, but no one is using it. No one wants to. They've seen what happens to the kids who do. They're stressing about college, graduation, dating, whether he-likes-her-but-does-she-like-me. It's nice to see a deconstruction of the hero's journey, but hard to do well. This one does. The style reminds me of John Green writing a Harry Potter background character or A.S. King ("Please Ignore Vera Dietz").
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
(unfinished)
I read the first six stories. Only one provoked any reaction from me, thus I put it down. They're all typical Stephen King -- overwritten and full of generic description. I think he's said everything he's needed to say, and now he's repeating himself.
Plus the thing about short stories is that they never seem to matter to the world within. They're never important or epic. There's no point to invest in one because it's gone as soon as you do. They're just slices of life.
They're also not scary. He's gone from tangible horror to the existential slipstream hypnosis or something like that. There's a Family Guy joke where King's publisher is asking for his next idea. King looks around the office and grabs a lamp. "For my next book, um... this couple is... um... attacked by, um... a lamp monster! Oooh..." There is LITERALLY a story like that, but it's a stationary bike. "Ooh, look at the scary stationary bike. Ooh, you don't know where it's taking you. Ooh, is it making you hallucinate or is it real?" Please.
I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie by Roger Ebert
I enjoyed "Your Movie Sucks", and thought this one would be even better, because it might include more movies I'm familiar with. But that's not the case. It cuts off in 1999 and includes a ton of stinkers that I don't remember at all. (There's even a review of a MST3K movie, I thought that was a neat anachronism.)
This one seems to lack the vitriol that the sequel had. Probably because Ebert hadn't reached peak cynicism yet. I thought I'd enjoy hearing his witty evisceration of my nostalgic classics, but those were few and far between. It's too bad you can't buy just the reviews of the movies you want to read about.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
I cannot remember why I put this on my to-read list. It's like a combo of John Scalzi and Leviathan Wakes. The characters are colorful, like a readable Firefly, but painted with a comic book brush. So they're actually happy--not sullen or brooding or grimdark. That's weird to me, but welcome. But after I finished, I was of two minds about it.
One one hand, it's amateur hour. The entire middle could be removed without affecting the plot. Each chapter is episodic and self-contained. Some characters get a lot of screen time. Others you forget are there.
There's an illusion of consequences to character actions... but nothing really happens. For example, the main character has a "the liar revealed" moment, and it affects nothing because everybody is so nice. No one dies. No one loses an hand or a mentor. Nothing changes anyone or anything. Nobody gets to say "Man, I regret doing that thing" or "I was wrong to do that".
Finally, the "episodes" get transparently political. There is one that's an immigration allegory. One that's a LGBTQ rights allegory. One about religious freedom.
On the other hand, these are fun characters. They're enjoyable to be around. They're funny and smart, they don't make stupid decisions. They're practical and don't fall into space opera tropes. It's a little like Star Wars if it was created by the person who wrote My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's not morose empire drama. But I don't think I'll read the second one.Labels: books, Civil War, movies, Neil Gaiman, reading, Roger Ebert, science fiction, space opera, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, the books I read
