An Apology and a Fresh Start

I know I made up a new purpose for this blog, then made a whole fuss over it, then... stopped. Then hid for a year in shame (and full-time employment).

You know what? Bad books are just, well, bad. Unlike a bad movie, you can't easily share the real-time experience with your friends. So I'm going back to just detailing what I read. Sorry, kids.

Arise my Book Blog

You may have noticed that this blog has lain dormant for quite a while. Mainly this is because I no longer had the mental energy to devote to capsule reviews of books. I was still reading, but not blogging. Of course, the fact that I was still reading (am still reading) Robert Caro's "The Power Broker" didn't help. Sucker is 1,500 pages long. Try reading that in the bath.

Well, I want to blog again, but I can't do the numerical challenge again. While it works well as a goal, the thrill wears off once you've actually done it, and it's not as if you can tell anyone about it once you're finished. Can you really announce "I read 50 books a year!" as a part of normal conversation? What's the answer to that? I mean, the books could be anything (see my previous reading list). It sounds as if you're begging for a gold star, or maybe a shiny button and 10 Personal Pan Pizzas.

So I've decided to modify the challenge. I'm going to read 50 awful books instead. That way, I'll be spared having to improve my writing skills, as it is always easier to write about something dreadful than something decent, and whoever's reading this will be spared having to read capsule reviews of classic novels that read along the lines of "wow, this book is good." Perhaps this is not the best way to challenge myself. But I do not care.

If anyone is still reading and has any suggestions for awful books for me to read, feel free to comment.

"The Grass is Singing," Doris Lessing

Picked this up after reading about it on "Eve's Alexandria" and read it all in an afternoon, which is the best recommendation any book can have. A wonderful exploration of boredom, frustration, societal pressure, and emotional cruelty, although it's not a "man and woman overcome cultural boundaries and make sweet love until Society ends it" sort of book - the interracial relationship really only develops in the last part of the book and is basically the logical end to a series of choices on the part of a woman who ends up with very few choices to make.

Which might be disappointing if you picked up the book based on a cover like this.

"Ripley's Game," Patricia Highsmith

Not quite as engaging as "Talented Mr. Ripley," mostly because Ripley himself has evolved into a sort of god figure who is busy playing with the life of Jonathan Trevanny, the individual who finds himself in the "talented" slot that Ripley occupied in the first book. An ingenious setup that drags out a bit by the end - because of Trevanny's circumstances, it's pretty clear what's going to happen to him, so the attraction lies in Highsmith's ability to evoke emotional atmosphere (which she does very well, though).

I accidentally skipped the second book in the series, although these aren't the kind of books that you have to read in order after you finish the first one. So back to "Ripley Underground," then onward to "The Boy Who Followed Ripley."

"A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign," Edward J. Larson

There are a lot of American history nonfiction books sitting round the house, as we like nonfiction here (also the Costco book racks). Back in the days of yore, there was no direct presidential voting; instead, states chose electors through various methods, and whoever got the most electors won the prize. Because of a lack of party organization - as American political parties were just being born - two candidates from the same party ended up tying, and finally, after much machination, Thomas Jefferson became third President of the United States.

Larson chooses to emphasize conflicts and problems that echo our own, and it seems like there are certain truths to any successful American presidential campaign, no matter when it's held (don't split your party, organization is key, being an atheist is not a good thing). Because the narrative focuses mostly on the election itself, some of the fun parts of American history are left to hang in the misty future - I was disappointed that I didn't get to read more about Burr shooting Hamilton, for example.

"Throne of Jade," Naomi Novik

The second of Naomi Novik's Temeraire novels. The Chinese government, furious over a mere captain commanding a rare breed of dragon, demands the return of Temeraire. Of course, his rider Captain Lawrence, comes along, and of course, adventures are had, before everything comes out all right in the end. Novik's concept of dragon "culture" (since I can't think of another way to put it right now) is pleasantly complicanted, in that there are different ways that different human cultures interact with dragons, and also in that her dragon protagonist, Temeraire, demands a different relationship with his rider after observing how dragons are treated in China. Temeraire is not just a source of endless reassurance for his captain, which puts "Throne of Jade" a cut above most fantasy novels.

Unfortunately, soon after finishing the book, I had a conversation with an acquaintance in which she revealed that the stories were based on "Master and Commander" fanfiction and the dragon is supposed to be the guy who wasn't Russell Crowe in the movie.

DWAGGINS.

More Books I Have Not Read

I like reading bad fantasy books. I enjoyed reading that Terry Goodkind books, with the speeches and the evil birds, because it was so laughably bad. So I started on one of the David Weber books, intending to experience the same sort of fun. But I couldn't get through the first few pages, because those first few pages were taken up with explaining how our heroine was overwhelmed by her emotions, as she had just rescued an entire prison planet and realized that the guy she worked with had a crush on her. Now, this would be all well and good to set up the plot, except that this wave of emotions was explained not as a human reaction, but as the byproduct of some sort of weird bond with her magic cat.

After that, I was done. I just can't get through a book that treats the emotions that any normal person (normal super-heroine?) would feel as if they are super-awesome telepathic magic skills that can only be obtained through talking to genetically manipulated animals in your head. I understand that these books are not aimed towards the same audience that reads, I don't know, Barbara Pym, but damn! How autistic can you be?