Death By Papercuts

The Fall by Tarsem

2008-05-05T23:43:00.006-04:00

I can't wait! This is by Tarsem, the director of The Cell. A movie that I avoided for years because of Jennifer Lopez. But when I finally saw it, I found it so haunting that I couldn't get it out of my mind for days.

The Fall looks much better than Pan's Labyrinth, which I found to be disappointingly overrated and visually unimaginative.

I am surprised by the number of snarky predictions that are out there for the movie, mostly by people who haven't seen the movie, but hated The Cell. These same critics complain that The Cell was muddled. A most surprising critique since the movie was really straight forward when it comes to plot. But I guess vast amounts of imagination combined with strange and grotesque imagery makes many viewers uneasy.

If I ever lived in a fantasy, I would like to live in one created by Tarsem. The beauty and violence of his world is incredibly mesmerizing. I can't wait to see this in New York when it comes out this weekend!

Wit's End

2008-04-19T11:58:00.004-04:00

It's such a beautiful day. The sun is out. My cat is enraptured by the birds that chatter outside our window. And sounds of baseball practice makes the day seem even more all-American perfect if that is at all possible.

I'm reading Karen Joy Fowler's Wit's End today. She reminds me of Ellen Raskin for some reason. The same loveable, but sometimes emotionally impaired characters. You sort of learn to love them unconditionally. That's something that most books can't make you do.

I worshipped Ellen Raskin as a child. The Westing Game gave me my first taste of great characters, and how disatrously flawed they could be. It's not often that a book can say something intelligent and at the same time have so much faith in human beings.

It's been a long time since I've found an author who writes for adults that has been able to inspire such feelings. It's delightful. I can't wait to read more of her. It's the perfect book for the perfect day.

Titus Groan and Reading Journals

2008-04-10T20:02:00.002-04:00

A post that I forgot to post:

I have been reading a lot lately. But since a lot of the reading I am doing is not for leisure, it has been difficult blog about any of my thoughts.

As for aiming to have something to say about every book I read, it looks like a nearly impossible task at this point. I still want to develop the habit of keeping a reading journal—but somehow find it impossible to make this happen in a pratical way. The journal I chose is a bulky red leather tome that adds what feels like 5 pounds to anything that I carry. It’s not practical to keep handy, even if I had the good habit of taking it out and writing something when I’m reading, which of course I never think to do. The problem is time. I feel I have to speed through leisure reading because I feel guilty about all the work-related reading I have to do. Then of course, I speed through work-related reading because of the impending deadlines.

As I’m writing this entry, my mind is speeding through the amount of reading that I have to finish today. It’s ironic, because I’m reading a number of books that are so wonderful, for both work and leisure, yet I can’t seem to find the time to relish and digest any of it.

I hope I will be writing a entry on Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, one of my favorite reads so far this year—which is saying something because I’ve also finished J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, as well as one brilliant and one very good short story collection by Alice Munro and Lorrie Morre, respectively.

What I think fascinates me about Titus Groan is it’s exsitence. It never ceases to amaze me that someone conceived this book, and penned these strange characters and the world that Gormenghast inhabits. It is also the first book that I have ever visualized. I am not a visual reader, and usually have to strain myself to imagine anything in detail, but with the world of Gormenghast, it was as if visions would just swim before me. It is superbly written, superbly described. It is from a different era, a different universe. The characters are so singular that they will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. This is what fantasy should be like.

The pleasure and misery of writing

2008-03-19T16:17:00.004-04:00

I’m sitting here trying to plot out a zippy press release (it’s not so much writing as it is juggling all the phrases that you have to include into coherent sentences), while thinking about how I’m going to fit together my review for Iain M. Banks new Culture novel: Matter. Life has become by turns simple and wonderful----most of my waking life is now taken up by reading and writing---and laden with guilt and anxiety---writing is no longer a leisure activity, and I, a well-known procrastinator, has been given the flexibility of enforcing my own deadlines.

It takes me time to write. A blog entry or a fomal email will bring me the same amount of headache and nervousness as a book review or a term paper. There was a point in my life where I hated every sentence I produced. I tend towards complex sentence structures that will crumble with a misplaced comma ( see last sentence of previous paragraph---I doubt it's even correct; oh how I love the dash). It doesn’t help that I’ve always had sloppy grammar.

Reading is therapeutic, but writing, especially writing something that someone will read, fills me with dread. I think part of the reason is that I can never quite catch the internal monologue that’s running through me head. No matter how many times I revise my work, it never or rarely turns out the way that I have envisioned it. It’s frustrating, but it’s also a challenge that I want to overcome. Blogging helps; sentences are coming easier---I find fewer objections to what I write. Thank goodness that I have started it again!

Paradoxically, when I read something that I'm really proud of, I get depressed because I feel that will be the only good thing I have ever written. Does anyone else ever feel like this?

The Arrival and my father

2008-03-18T22:05:00.004-04:00

David and I read Shaun Tan's The Arrival today. It's a beautiful graphic novel that will resonate with anyone, but especially those of us who are immigrants. It is the beautiful, strange, and wordless tale of a man leaving his family behind and traveling to a foreign land in hopes of a brighter future.

The book would make a perfect gift for my father who immigrated to this country in the 1980's leaving behind his family---my mother and me. Living on a student's stipend and trying to save up money to mail home, my father would eat cabbage and onions for weeks on end. He tells one story of slipping and falling down on ice, again and again on one of the many steep and hilly roads in West Virginia trying to get somewhere on foot, when people with cars had even chosen to stay in. The story meant to be a funny anecdote always breaks my heart.

It would be the perfect gift, yet I fear to give it to him. For it's strangeness and whimsical, wordless qualities---something that I have cultivated a taste for---may be something incomprehensible to him. He may laugh at the novelty, shake his head at what he perceives to be a book for children. He hasn't had the time in his life to cultivate such tastes. So much of his time has been spent on providing for us, making sure we have a good future, and that I have the creature comforts that was denied him when he was young. Perhaps I give him too little credit.

I'm grateful for this book; for it's beauty and elegance, and because it reminds me of what my father did for me.
Here's an excellent interview with Shaun Tan on the book.

Reviewing

2008-01-31T02:40:00.000-05:00

It's a busy time for me. I have picked up my review duties at Blogcritics.org, and will also be reviewing a book for LT Early Reviewer. I'm really happy to be doing this. I think it'll get me back into the grove of thinking and writing about books. Here's what's to come.

The Shadow Year - Jeff Ford (I'm having a minor crisis with getting the book delivered to the right address, that's what you get for moving 3 times a year. Can you believe that I have moved something like 9 times in the past two or three years?) So hopefully I will get my copy. I love Jeff Ford, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

Matter - Iain M. Banks: His new Culture novel; reviewing this one should be fun, although I have to say Player of Games was not nearly as good as everyone said it would be. I think the gold standard will always be Use of Weapons. But Culture novels are always a fun read, and this one has an incredibly complicated plot, which is never a bad thing for a Banks novel. I feel sorry for the poor marketers that had to write the synopsis though. It's pretty garbled...

The Uses of Enchantment - Heidi Julavits: I have wanted to read this for a while. I may not get a review copy, but I'll eventually check it out from the library , so one way or another I will try to write something about this book.

The View from Castle Rock - Alice Munro: I love Alice Munro, and I think it will be interesting experience to write a review for one of her short story collections.

The Unfortunates

2008-01-30T10:06:00.000-05:00

Yeahhh!!! New Directions is going to publish B.S. Johnson's The Unfortunates (known among certain circles as the book-in-a box).

Who is B.S. Johnson? And why have I been whipped up into a frenzy over this? B.S. Johnson is an obscure, experimental English writer. The Unfortunates is his extremely rare work---27 sections in a box, to be read in whatever order best suited to the reader's fancy. Go here for a look.

I thought I was going to have to shell out a lot of money for this book (at some point in the future), seeing as its extremely rare and out-of-print. But thanks to New Directions, we will get the pleasure of owning and reading this "novel" in May of 2008. I can barely contain my excitement!

This info comes from Conversational Reading, who also tells us that the book will be printed in the original format (27 unbound sections).

Back!

2008-01-28T22:33:00.000-05:00

Originally I had started another blog, since this one sort of died somewhere in May of last year. But after looking around here, I realized that it would be a waste to ditch this blog. I think I may think about it a little bit and keep both blogs. We will see. My career change has finally happened for me, and I'm happy to report that I will be starting a new job in February at one of the big publishing companies. (My favorite one, yeah!)

I told myself that I stopped blogging because I wanted to focus on the job hunt, but I realize now that dropping the blog and many of my other review-related obligations was how I reacted to the stress and depression of changing careers and not being sure what I was doing with my life.
But I'm here to slowly pick up the pieces, and hopefully I'll have some insight into working in publishing for others who are interested in the field once I start my new job.

All I can say is that I'm really excited about being in New York City, and finally doing something that I think I'm really going to love. It doesn't hurt that I will be getting a lot of free books too =).

Hopefully you'll will be seeing a lot more posts here.

One last thing, go see Cloverfield. I don't care what anyone says, its a damn good movie. I felt shell-shocked once the movie was over, and that's something I've never felt before. I recommend the film based on that alone. Of course David and I did agree that the the film would have been stronger if they had cut the last 2 or 3 minutes (not the coney island stuff, but the scene under the bridge and the one before that).

What I'm Reading, Watching, Waiting For...

2007-08-08T08:40:00.000-04:00

Highly anticipating: Focus Features is bringing Atonement, one of my favorite books, to the big screen. The movie, scheduled for limited release in December in the US, will feature Kera Knightly, John McAvoy, and Saoirse Ronan.

Watching the trailers made me tear up, which goes to show you just how much the core of the story moved me. Crossing my fingers that it will be worth the wait. I am certainly pleased with the cast and the director, although Saoirse Ronan is definitely not how I imagined Briony.

I am also now looking forward to seeing Stardust. Originally, I wasn't too eager to see this for a number of reasons:

I wasn't impressed with the book. And as much as I admire and respect Neil Gaiman, his novels never did capture my imagination in the same way that his graphic novels do.
I can't stand Claire Danes.
The trailers made it look like a mashup between The Princess Bride, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

However I've decided to take a chance with this movie because it's been really well received by critics. Plus, I did enjoy Mirrormask, which I would highly recommend to anyone who hasn't already seen it.

Lastly there's The Darjeeling Limited. Wes Anderson, Adrian Brody, Owen Wilson; enough said.

Watching: Spaced---British comedy series co-created by the brilliant Simon Pegg (star and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz).

Reaction: It's certainly got its great moments, but it is a little dated and lacks the quality that I've grown accustomed to. (Will someone please, please, please bring back Arrested Development????) Still I love both the characters portrayed by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, so its worth it.

Reading: The Unconsoled

Initial Reaction: I'm not sure I could recommend this book to a lot of people, especially those who are not familiar with Kazuo Ishiguro. Even the critics didn't really know what to make of this book. But it comes recommended from many sources I trust, and hopefully my patience will pay off.

Plot: A famous pianist comes to a town in an unnamed European city to give a performance. Immediately upon his arrival, the pianist begins to have successive Alice-in-Wonderland-like conversations with the locals. Every person he talks to ask something of him, be it advice, approval, or help. People and location becomes familiar and unfamiliar in surrealistic ways.

One thing of interest to note on the style. The narrator (pianist) becomes omniscient periodically, observing the thoughts of the person he is talking or knowing the conversation of two characters when he is not present. I have never seen this combination, and it gives the narrative another level of surrealism. More to come.

WSJ takeover

2007-08-01T12:59:00.000-04:00

"He is an, I wouldn't say interfering, I would say he's an interventionist proprietor when he wants to be, but I guess, you know, if you own the title, then I guess you're allowed to intervene."

That's really not comforting.

The Moving Dilenma

2007-08-01T09:45:00.000-04:00

It's time to start up this blog again. I will be moving fairly soon, which brings up fond memories of last years move--- no not really, that's just me being sarcastic.

I hate moving. I hate having to do it so frequently and knowing each time that it won't be permanent. Still, I guess I can be thankful that this move will take us out of the city (relatively speaking) and into a nicer, quieter area, with trees, and a huge balcony. I have always had a penchant for balconies. I think if I had my dream apartment, it would be on the 30th floor of a huge high rise with a balcony overlooking the rest of the city. I know, the irony is that this fantasy is probably someone else's nightmare.

The move is also a good time to get rid of all the stuff that I have managed to accumulate and couldn't bear to get rid of in the last move. Mostly, I'm determined to get rid of all that clothing that I never wear and never will wear.

Then there are the books. I have already packed four suitcases full of books, and there are still two full bookcases to go. I think I need to put a portion in storage until I have more space. It's hard to know which books I will be parting with. Certainly not any of my anthologies or short story collections. Nor my favorites or anything in my TBR pile. And it's hard to pack up the classics because you never know which day you'll finally be in the mood to read Faulkner. I should pack up the heaviest books: art books, coffee books, and my collection of Folios. But the thought of Folios sitting in a box makes me cringe.

That's why I'm waiting until after the move to make the decision; to see what my new apartment will be able to hold before I have to make choices. I know not the wisest thing to do, but there you have it. Anything to delay the moment where I have to put some of my books in a box and send them to West Virginia.

Mid-year Recap

2007-06-24T12:35:00.000-04:00

Here are some musings about the books I've read so far in 2007. See Read in 2007 on the sidebar for a complete list and links to Amazon.com.

Favorite book: Toss up between Special Topics in Calamity Physics (novel) and The Barnum Museum (short stories), although Atonement and Magic For Beginners are strong contenders.

Favorite short story: There were so many! I'd have to go with one of the following:

"Lull" from Magic For Beginners - Kelly Link

"The Game of Clue" from The Barnum Museum - Steven Millhauser

"Meet Me In The Moon Room" from Meet Me In The Moon Room - Ray Vukcevich ( A collection that did not make it into my favorite book section only because I have not yet finished it.)

Least Favorite Book: White Noise - Don Delillo. Which, slim as it is, would have benefited from being shorter.

Least Favorite Short Story/Novella Collection: There weren't any. All seven collections that I have read were strong. The weakest of the bunch was Steven Millhauser's The King In the Trees which I did not like because I thought he had written about themes of two of the three novellas better in another collection.

Most overrated: Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and Amsterdam by Ian McEwan.

I pinpointed elsewhere on this blog why I did not like Notes on a Scandal. To sum it up, the book never explores or reflects upon the taboo themes that it dredges up to move the plot. It's ludicrous to me that it was nominated for anything, let alone shortlisted for a Booker.

I had similar problems with Amsterdam. While thematically and conceptually interesting, the characters were caricatures and the ending was preposterous. If you have never read Ian McEwan, steer clear of this one and pick up Atonement. Critics agree that Atonement is the superior book. I had no idea just exactly how superior it was until I finished Amsterdam feeling empty and annoyed.

Book that took the longest time to read: Wings of the Dove by Henry James, what else?

Honorable Mentions: The Ghost Writer by John Harwood. I love a good ghost story, and John Harwood's The Ghost Writer delivers not one, but four of the best and creepiest ones I've had the pleasure to read. This one's also an excellent mystery.

Mid-year Recap Continued...

2007-06-24T12:21:00.000-04:00

My last post became so overly long that I decided to separate it into two.

Lastly, here are the four authors that I've been introduced to this year that I think particularly deserves mention: Alice Munro, Steven Millhauser, and Ray Vukcevich, and Marisha Pessl.

I discovered Alice Munro on the train, so I will forever associate her with flitting light and the pattern of leaves dancing across the page. I love her for her darkness, ambiguity, and lilting language, but also for her ability to capture female characters with such clarity.

I was so captivated by "The Game of Clue", and the rest of The Barnum Museum, that I quickly hunted down every one of Steven Millhauser's short story/novella collections. Millhauser focuses on the study of miniatures, details, Critics find individual stories strong, but not enough variations in the themes of his collections. I don't have a problem with this, since I find almost all of the stories in his collections written so exquisitely.

I loved Special Topics In Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.

The book is narrated by the precocious Blue Van Meer documenting the seminal events in her life that lead up to the mysterious death of her beautiful and much worshiped teacher Hannah Schneider. Blue Van Meer narrates the way that the Gilmore Girls would talk on speed, with numerous references to books, quotations, science, philosophy, movies, and music. Click here, here, and here for reviews.

It took extraordinary amounts of will to put down the book. I read it while stirring the pot, playing with the cat, and watching tv. I decided to take a bath instead of a shower, just so I could keep on reading the book. I would let out squeals of joy that scared my boyfriend and my cat, because the book was just that good. And I would stop every hundred pages or so, scared that I was going too fast, that it would end too soon. 40 pages before the end, I even thought about starting over from the beginning just so I could delay the inevitable end.

To my surprise some literary folks did not share my enthusiasm for Special Topics in Calamity Physics, leading me to the conclusion that you either delight and revel in this book, or find it irritating to no end.

Still I think most people can agree that Ms. Marisha Pessl is a force to be reckoned with. And I can't wait till she comes out with another book.

Lastly there is Ray Vukcevich. An author published by Small Beer Press. It's hard not to mourn for an obscure author who so richly deserve to be widely read, appreciated, and discussed. Ray Vukcevich captures moments of terror, foreboding, longing, and regret in short stories that are often no more than three or four pages long. Read him. You will not regret it.

Finally!

2007-05-25T10:39:00.000-04:00

After about 10 years, and at least 8 or 9 readings of Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency, I have finally put together every last piece of the ending---with help from the internet.

Douglas Adams, you were a brilliant, brilliant man.

Ranting about Rant

2007-05-09T08:59:00.000-04:00

We're going to see Chuck Palahniuk on Thursday. It's really exciting because our city doesn't seem to have a literary pulse, and authors, especially authors that we like, rarely come to visit.

While I have not had the chance to read Palahniuk's new book, I'm excited to finally "meet" him. The last time he was in town, I was a college freshman who had no idea who he was and therefore passed up the opportunity that I regretted for years after.

I want to read his new book Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey before the signing, but seeing as how it's a day away, I don't think it's going to happen. However, I did have a chance to read the reviews on Amazon. Stranded amongst the generally benevolent 4-5 star reviews, was this little review, posted on May 9th by Mr. Joseph Suglia (novelist) attacking Palahniuk's novel with the same sort of vim and vigor that people in the 14th century use to display when they lobbed fruit and vegetables at the village idiot. Since I haven't read the book, there's nothing much I can say in terms of his general evaluation of it's merits. I do, however, have a problem with his attack on Palahniuk's readership.

The sub-normal high-school stoners who comprise much of Palahniuk's massive`fan-base' will find the book more boring than the most boring documentary on rabies.

Ouch, that's harsh. Makes me feel like I should crawl back into the sewer that I was born out of for one thing.

On a serious note, I am absolutely sure that there are plenty of teenagers who love Palahniuk, and feel that his books are angsty anthems to their lives. But just because Palahniuk appeals to them doesn't mean that his work is invalid or that these 'sub-normal high-school stoners' don't have the intelligence to see the merit in his work. Secondly, sub-normal is inappropriate. I am so glad that Mr. Suglia had a normal and wonderful high school life. But I am really sick of 'normal' people making snap judgements about people that they don't understand or know.

I understand the statement was meant to be sarcastic and condescending, but it's disheartening to see one writer degrade another based on the supposed sub-normality of his fan-base.

**Update: Interestingly enough, when I checked Amazon today (May 11, 2007) Mr. Suglia had removed his review.

In which I ponder a grilled cheese sandwhich

2007-05-02T10:02:00.000-04:00

Ever since Fox cancelled Arrested Development, and Scrubs jumped the shark somewhere at the end of season 5, 30 Rock has been the shimmer of light in the vast, murky waters of unfunny, and cliched TV comedies. So needless to say, I am saddened by the news of Alec Baldwin's intended resignation over the irate message left on his daughter's cellphone.

Taking Alec Baldwin out of 30 Rock is like taking the cheese out of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Do you know what it's like eating a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese?

Well, now we get to find out. Thank you media of America, once again you manage to make mountains out of molehills, and turn actual mountains into convoluted and inaccurate piles of crap.

Updates

2007-05-01T13:33:00.000-04:00

Things will continue to be slow here, as I am in the middle of a career change and a relocation. The good news is that I will finally be working with books (if someone is willing to hire me *cross fingers*). The bad news is of course that I will be making a lot less money in a more expensive city.

Still, who cares? I will be working with books!

Anyways, I hope to pick up this blog again in full force when everything gets settled in the next 3-4 months.

In other news, I am currently reading Joy William's The Quick and the Dead. Joy Williams is an author that a was recommended by a very close friend. It's funny how our tastes, which were very different when we were younger, have converged.

The Quick and the Dead manages to be one of the funniest, and yet most evicerating and painful books I have ever read. It's wonderful, strange, and should have won the Pulitzer that it was nominated for.

That's it for now, I will be back in due time.

Ramblings

2007-04-03T15:43:00.000-04:00

I haven't been posting here because I have been rolling up to my eyeballs in work (is that even an expression?).

General thoughts: I liked Lolita, although I found my concentration waning through Part II, as the writing becomes more fractious.

Humbert Humbert's confrontation with Clare Quilty reminds me of the scene in White Noise, when Jack Gladney tries to execute Willie Mink. In both scenes, there's this great sense that the protagonists find the realization of their revenge fantasy far from satisfying. In the end, both events rapidly become absurd and emasculating experiences for the main characters.

The character I felt for the most is not surprisingly, Lolita. Due to the connotations of Lolita in the English language, I have always imagined Dolores Haze to some extent as the willing participant in Humbert Humbert's fantasies. It was disturbing at the end of Part I to realize that this is not to be the case. The minor observations of the realities of Lolita's life with Humbert Humbert is tragic and heart breaking.

Family woes

2007-03-29T08:45:00.000-04:00

On the day that my dad is suppose to visit me, while on a business trip from China---which has led me to go through waves of nausea, nervousness, depression, and manic activity, I get this message: "Hey Honey, I'm sorry I haven't called, but I won't be able to make it today. I'm flying to Colorado immediately, but will talk to you later."

I seriously think my father thinks that I still sit in a room and play with my toy unicorns all day, and therefore does not mind his lack of communication since he has landed in the U.S. (been almost a week), or the fact that he cancelled his plans with me on the day that it was suppose to happen---even though he knew in advance that it was going to happen---leading me to imagine nightmarish moments where he just shows up at my apartment unannounced. Thank goodness I was too tired to wash the cat.

"Oh, I'll be back in the States around April 8th, so we can discuss meeting up then."

Oh God. Now my whole April is ruined. In the language of my parents, " around April 8th" actually means any time in April (or May for that matter). Maybe I will send them that e-mail I concocted in my head that goes something like this:

Hey folks, how's it hanging? Guess what? I've decided that after all, I'm not going to be a lawyer or an investment banker.

I'm going to mess around with books, you know, utterly devastate you because you think anything but lawyering and i-banking means that I'm going to end up begging on the streets, and living under the bridge---all that good stuff you guys used to warn me against.

---Signed your loving and affectionate daughter.

Sighh.... If only they weren't such good parents, maybe then this act of disobedience wouldn't be so bad. But of course that's what happens when your the golden child growing up. Your parents get used to you being pliant. Ugh, I wish I had a rebellious phase. Instead I think I was too busy eating Doritos and reading Piers Anthony.

The Perfect Fairy Tale

2007-03-21T00:31:00.000-04:00

Some stories are beautiful in their simplicity and brevity: "LadyFaraway".

Digging a hole.

2007-03-20T15:33:00.000-04:00

Where would you end up if you dug a whole through the earth? Ed Champion would end up hundreds of miles off the tip of South Africa. Cindy and I would end up hundreds of miles off the southwestern tip of Australia, in the Indian Ocean. That's one hard earned Darwin award.

Where would you end up?

To World's End

2007-03-20T09:28:00.000-04:00

Parts of the new Pirates of the Caribbean trailer remind me of China Mieville's The Scar.

Because of similarities in topic matter, there are inevitably parallels. Still, when the trailer premiered last night, there were scenes and images that I felt, could have come straight out of the novel. I wonder if any of the writers for the new movie read The Scar?

See for yourself.

700

2007-03-19T10:08:00.000-04:00

You think 300 Spartans are impressive? Here's 700 hoboes!

I heard a voice last night...

2007-03-19T07:47:00.000-04:00

What happens when your ex-girlfriend accuses you of snoring when you know you don't? Why you go out and buy a recording machine to prove her wrong of course. What happens when you play back the machine and hear voices where there should be silence?

Find out, in one of my favorite short stories of the year: "Whisper".

"Snow"

2007-03-18T13:51:00.000-04:00

I had spent my life waiting for something, not knowing what, not even knowing I waited. Killing time. I was still waiting. But what I had been waiting for had already occurred and was past.

One of my favorite stories in the American Gothic Tales anthology is John Crowley's "Snow".

"Snow" is set in a world, where the rich can afford to document their entire lives via camera for future generations. It tells the story of a man who seeks the memories of his deceased wife through eight thousand hours of video.

By that time it had transmitted at least eight thousand hours (eight thousand was the minimum guarantee) of Georgie: of her days and hours, her comings in and her goings out, her speech and motion, her living self---all on file, taking up next to no room, at The Park. And then, when the time came, you could go there, to The Park, say on a Sunday afternoon; and in quiet landscaped surroundings (as The Park described it) you would find her personal resting chamber; and there, in privacy, through the miracle of modern information storage and retrieval systems, you could access her: her alive, her as she was in every way, never changing or growing any older, fresher (as The Park's brochure said) than in memory ever green.

But the narrator soon discovers that there is a flaw in the system, and begins to understand the exact nature of the video that has been recorded.

"Snow" examines memory through the apparatus of technology. It dissects the way that we access our memories, and reveals to us the ephemeral nature of our lives.

There is no access to Georgie, except that now and then, unpredictably, when I'm sitting on the porch or pushing a grocery cart or standing at the sink, a memory of that kind will visit me, vivid and startling, like a hypnotist's snap of fingers. Or like that funny experience you sometimes have, on the point of sleep, of hearing your name called softly and distinctly by someone who is not there.

Going Gothic

2007-03-16T09:24:00.000-04:00

The first question to be asked is, what is a gothic story? From Wikipedia we learn that a gothic story comprises of at least some of the following:

Terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.

With stock characters including:

Tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.

The anthology that I will be reading is American Gothic Tales edited by Joyce Carol Oates. Oates does not limit her anthology to the tropes mentioned above, but seeks to define gothic in a less restrictive way:

The surreal, raised to the level of poetry, is the very essence of "gothic": that which display the range, depth, audacity and fantastical extravagance of the human imagination.

She adds:

Many of the writers in this volume are not "gothic" writers but simply---writers. Their inclusion here is meant to suggest the richness and magnitude of the gothic-grotesque vision and the inadequacy of genre labels if by "genre" is meant mere formula.

Here is the link for a list of stories and authors included within this book.

Meet Me In The Moon Room

2007-03-13T16:46:00.000-04:00

I have just ordered a copy of Ray Vukcevich's Meet Me In The Moon Room. To find out why, read his short story Whisper. (It only takes 5 mins!).

Meet Me In The Moon Room has special significance for me since I first discovered this book along with M. John Harrison's Things That Never Happen, and Jeff Vandermeer's Cities of Saints and Madmen. It was the first book added on my first Amazon wishlist, in June of 2002, and while I have no idea why I have waited the subsequent five years to make the purchase, I'm certainly glad to finally have it.

People that absolutely DISGUST me

2007-03-12T14:47:00.000-04:00

You try to believe that there isn't one human being that is so despicable that they have no redeeming qualities.

Thank you Judy Sugden for proving me wrong.

I wonder what happens to the ones with horrible debilitating genetic deformities that comes with this sort of cross breeding.

Update!

2007-03-12T13:22:00.000-04:00

Eek I haven't updated here in quite a while, mostly due to prescription issues with my eyes last week. But I will be hopefully doing a lot more this week when it comes to updates.

I have just sped through The Magus, a book that I found fascinating 2/3rds of the way through. I say this because I was somewhat flummoxed by the last 200 pages in which the text took off in a completely different direction than the one that I had expected, and not in a way that I am so enamored with. I guess I am more used to reading material that goes from dark to darker, not from dark to well...I won't spoil the plot. I think I'll have a little more to say later on, when I have mulled the book over.

That's it for now. To Be Continued...

Why I love The Strand!

2007-03-03T20:36:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to pull together all the books that I purchased at The Strand.

Here they are:
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

I first heard about this book through my Folio Society catalogue. Sunday Times calls it the funniest book ever written.

Cold Comfort Farm is the story of Flora Poste, who at the age of twenty finds herself destitute and forced to live her backwater relatives on the oddly named Cold Comfort Farm. I imagine this is one of those books that's soothing to read at night, with a cup of hot chocolate, near a roaring fire.

This edition is the Penguin Classics Edition, cover illustrated by Roz Chast.

A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories - Ray Bradbury

I have to confess that I hated Fahrenheit 451; absolutely hated it. I thought the characterizations were cliched and 1-dimensional, did not find the writing appealing, and thought that the plot lacked originality. (I feel this way about many of our acknowledged "great" dystopian novels, but Fahrenheit 451 stood out as one of the worst)

That was a long time ago, and I've always felt that I should give Bradbury another chance.

The Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro

I don't think I would have appreciated Kazuo Ishiguro if I hadn't had help from some very well written reviews online. Mr. Ishiguro is an powerful yet subtle writer. One that I appreciate enormously. I am really happy to get my hands on The Unconsoled.

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

It's probably high time that I finished this book. I began Lolita the summer of my freshman (or was it sophomore?) year of college, but never finished it. I'm glad that I waited this long. I am not sure I would have appreciated Nabokov as much as I could now.

I also really like this cover, and think its a fantastic pick for the novel.

Vellum: The Book of All Hours - Hal Duncan

David picked up this one. And I am glad that he did, since I was daunted by the reviews of it online. This one should be a doozy to read. Click on the link to find a review.

The Master and the Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

This book keeps on popping up on recommendations lists from authors and writers that I admire. I couldn't really pass up a copy for $5. I love The Strand.

The Tortilla Curtain - T. C. Boyle

T.C. Boyle, like Kate Atkinson, is one of the authors that I discovered by listening to The Bat Segundo Show.

I absolutely love Kate Atkinson, so I'm excited to try T.C. Boyle. (I know, not the soundest of logic, but it works more often than you'd expect).

I am very greatful to Ed Champion (The Bat Segundo Show) and Rick Kleffel (The Agony Column) for providing David and me with an ever growing lists of authors to read.

The Hollow Earth - Rudy Rucker

David wanted to read Rudy Rucker ever after listening to his interview on The Agony Column Audio Archive. Rudy Rucker sounds like a fascinating guy, so David was very happy to discover this at The Strand.

Blue Angel - Francine Prose

I have to confess that this is the only book that I regret picking up. The cover and synopsis pulled me in, but now after looking up a little info on the book, I'm not so sure that I will like it. Still you never know.

The End of Mr. Y - Scarlett Thomas

I was so happy to find a copy of this book at The Strand (it wasn't easy, and I nearly got trampled in the process) I have already finished it and would highly recommend it. Check out my review below for the synopsis.

Twilight of the Superheroes: Stories - Deborah Eisenberg

I'm currently reading this. Almost everyone gave it rave reviews.

I wasn't too fond of the title story ("Twilight of the Superheroes"), and thought the story was too ambiguous for its intentions, and somewhat contrived on the subject matter (9/11). I found the other story I have read "Like It Or Not" to be much more profound. I will write more on this collection in the future.

Read This!

2007-03-03T14:36:00.000-05:00

I've been reading The Ghost Writer by John Harwood, and I can't stop.

It's fantastic--- beautifully written, haunting, inventive, and absolutely engrossing. (I'll be sure to provide links to reviews as well as a short synopsis later, although I'm afraid I won't be able to do it justice.)

I'm enjoying it immensely. I have spent the whole day inside with the book, even though this has turned out to be a beautiful and unseasonably warm day. I'm dying to find out what happens next, but maybe its time to go outside and get a breath of fresh air, and savor the anticipation of finishing the book tonight.

I usually don't have so much self control, but it would be a pity to stay in on such a beautiful day.

Oh the pleasurable dilemmas of a Saturday afternoon. If only all my days were like this.

Our Weekend

2007-03-01T19:39:00.000-05:00

It was Cindy's birthday this past weekend. We went to New York City for a day, a really long day, that culminated with Spamalot. Here are some pictures we took during our day in New York City :

Here are a couple of really creepy dolls we saw at F.A.O. Schwarz

This is me and Patrick

This is Cindy. I forgot the bear's name.

And a blood thirsty smurf.

The End of Mr. Y

2007-03-01T14:07:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here looking at a copy f Deborah Eisenberg's Twilight of the Superheroes, and wondering if I should start it. The reason for my hesitation, is the mental fatigue from finishing the last book that I read. The book in question is The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas.

The End of Mr. Y is about a book, a curse, and a woman. There is also a smattering of mice. We will get to the mice later.

Ariel Manto is a PhD student who has developed an fascination for a book. A book written by an obscure 19th century author, a book which is rumored to be cursed. Then one day Ariel goes into a second-hand bookshop and finds the book.

Disregarding the curse, Ariel begins to read The End of Mr. Y which inevitably leads her down a drug-induced rabbit-hole into a world called the Troposphere. In the Troposphere, Ariel learns the ability to enter the mind via a simulation much like a computer game.

Her first trip through the mind of her neighbor, two mice, and a cat, leads Ariel to question her own sanity. However, when two sinister men appear on the scene threatening her life, and looking for the book, Ariel realizes that she has come upon something that is frighteningly real.

The narrative flies along at a break-neck speed as Ariel tries to resolve the mystery of the book, the Troposphere, and why she is being hunted down. In the process of her flight, she learns how to travel through human thoughts, and meets the god of Mice.

Depending on your taste and interpretation, the plot of The End of Mr. Y can be perceived as intriguing, trippy, or ludicrous. One librarythinger even tagged the book as chick-lit. I guess when the collective female population decides to stop worrying about our weight, start chatting about philosophy, and begin to cut ourselves to feel alive, then maybe we can call this chick-lit. (I'm not saying that we don't already do this, I'm just saying that I don't consider this the sort of thing that you look for when you read chick-lit.) Trying to categorize this book will make your head hurt. If you haven't read it, then don't believe anything anyone tells you about this novel. You can't define this book with catch-phrases. And if you are looking for comfort, you will not find it between these pages.

The greatest thing about the novel, aside from its ideas on philosophy, science, and theology, is the main character.

Ms. Thomas creates a fully realized character in Ariel, one so convincing that for two-thirds of the book, I felt that Ariel and Ms. Thomas were one, and I was reading a journal rather than a novel. I found this feeling surprising due to the fantastical nature of the plot, but believe that it stands as evidence to the deftness of Ariel's characterization.

Ariel's character is defined by it's subtleties. Her aberrancy, like most people's, lay under the surface of her character, and allow her to be 3-dimensional. They give her depth, but because of their subtlety and complexity, allow her to escape generalizations. I found myself deeply engaged with her character throughout the novel.

The End of Mr. Y is the sort of book that asks you to question your beliefs of reality. In fact it may turn your world upside down with its many suggestions, and ideas. How you react to this will determine whether you enjoy this novel.

That is not to say that there weren't certain glitches along the way--- some of the conversations were lengthy and self-indulgent, and I found the ending to be a little too nicely wrapped up for my taste.

Still despite it's zany premise, and its narrative indulgence, The End of Mr. Y holds up amazing well under scrutiny as an entertaining and believable novel of ideas.

Robot Pinup - Very Cool

2007-02-27T08:58:00.000-05:00

Reminds me that I have to post some of the pictures from my Michael Parkes artbook.

Artist link courtesy of boingboing.net.

My weekend in NY

2007-02-25T22:28:00.000-05:00

I've just had the best weekend of my life, which involved large amounts of good food and cake, Broadway, large stuffed animals, and of course books! I really have very spectacular friends, and the BEST significant other that anyone could ask for (sorry for the cheese, but its true).

I'll be reporting on my book acquisitions shortly.

My only comment on the Oscars

2007-02-25T21:56:00.000-05:00

Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,

Infernal Affairs is not a Japanese movie. But I guess you people didn't bother to spend the 1.5 seconds it would take to look that up on IMDB.com.

Or did you think that Hong Kong is part of Japan?

How do you hit people?

2007-02-23T15:51:00.000-05:00

Haha, exactly why I would never play Second Life.

In which, I rave about bears...sort of.

2007-02-22T16:13:00.000-05:00

Sometimes book covers just grab me. Like this one:

I love it. Especially the bags under the bear's eyes. The bags are great.

The Bear Went Over The Mountain is William Kotzwinkle's satire of the merry world of the publishing industry. In the book, a bear finds a manuscript in the woods, and becomes an overnight sensation, courted by publishers, tv hosts, and presidents.

After reading a couple of reviews, I don't know if it's my thing. But the cover is great. Just look at his expression. I love it!

So Many Books! Part I

2007-02-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to curb my buying habits since the beginning of the new year, since I have a long list of unread (67) and unfinished (42!) books.

Thanks to LibraryThing, I was able to figure out just exactly how many books in my collection fit into these two categories (a whopping 109 volumes). You can check it out by clicking on the link above to view my library. You can click on the tags "unread" and "unfinished" to see the names.

What really surprised me was the number of unfinished books on my list. I have no idea how I managed to pick up and put down 42 books in the past two years.

It is only a small source of comfort that out of those 42 volumes, 19 are of the short story/anthology variety. Still, the number highlights the fact that I can be a capricious reader. What I read, when I read, how much I read, and how I feel about what I am reading may all depend on my mood.

I always have at least 2 or 3 books going at the same time. This is something that I do rather instinctively; probably a habit learned in youth, when I always checked out more than I could possibly read, and thus, had to double up just to avoid paying mind-blowing library fines.

(When I was 11 or 12, I once had 75 children's books checked out at the same time. Not an exaggeration since my mom rather made it a point to show me the rucksack that she had to use to take the books back.

I'm not sure how the library allowed me to get away with having 75 books out, but it was a small town and I believe this was before they started putting my picture up at the library to discourage me from trying to check out the entire children, mystery, and sci-fi sections of the library.

I had to eventually wander up to the adult Non-Fiction section, where I developed an early delight for logic puzzles due to a couple of rocking good books written by the mathematician Raymond Smullyan.)

I usually chose books to read simultaneously based on how I group them mentally. Groupings include: popular literary novels with black and white covers, books I associate with the word squid, books written by authors who look like they might be able to give Vin Diesel a run for his money in a fist fight.

It's all very arbitrary.

I tend to go through reading material rapidly for weeks before slowing down to a snail's pace, and then nothing at all. Usually during this latter period, I'll watch mind-numbing amounts of TV to kill off the brain cells that might have been created by any previous reading.

Then, when I begin to mentally compose elaborate death threats to everyone involved in TV (usually within the week) I turn off the TV, and begin the reading cycle once again.

Another pattern that seems to hold is the ordering of books at the height of my reading frenzy. Sadly, my new year's resolution to staunch the flow of new books has been all but flung out the window. In Part II of my post, I'll tell you what books I've purchased recently.

Banksy

2007-02-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

Thought for the day:

Maybe a little bit more context:

Chimpanzees 'hunt using spears'

Shriek Party

2007-02-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

First let me point out that I should have published this post in August of 2006. I'll be surprised if Evil Monkey hasn't put out a contract on my life. Although if Evil Monkey is truly evil, he will have put a contract out on our cat's life. I think that would piss me off more. Is that strange?

So on August 19, 2006 Cindy and I hosted a private Shriek movie release party. In attendance was a group of our friends, most of whom hadn't read any Vandermeer before. You can imagine the looks on their faces at the exact moment they realized they would not be eating anything that did not contain mushrooms; except for the milkshakes. The only "milkshake" recipes we could find when using "mushrooms" as the search term involved "sticky icky". Go figure.

Everyone that sent an RSVP arrived by 8:3o PM. Once our friends got comfortable Cindy and I went through our introduction of the festivities and kicked the celebration off by holding our first drawing for Vandergoodies (the drawing involved us distributing scraps of paper with numbers from ranging from 1-12, and then me drawing a bingo number from a bag). The first prizes we gave out were one bottle of Smashing Todd's Wartime Stout, an Ambergris specialty brew, a copy of The Church's new album "Uninvited, Like the Clouds", and a Bantam copy of City of Saint's and Madmen, in which we included a bookplate signed by Jeff. A more complete list of awesome Vandergoodies includes:

A stack of bookplates signed by Jeff Vandermeer
Three bottles of Smashing Todd's Wartime Stout, an Ambergris specialty brew
Extra Smashing Todd beer labels
Two copies of The Church's new album, "Uninvited, Like The Clouds"
A copy of ParaSpheres (please see below post)
Two paperback copies of City of Saints and Madmen, courtesy of Bantam (much obliged)
Shriek coasters

After the first drawing, and after everyone had at least one plate of food and a beer, we screened Jeff Vandermeer's introduction for the Shriek movie release parties, followed by the "Rough Introduction to Ambergris", which got a lot of giggles for the scandalous typeset it discusses. Before screening the Shriek movie we held a second drawing and gave out the remaining Smashing Todd's beers, the second copy of "Uninvited, Like the Clouds" and the second copy of City of Saints and Madmen, also including a signed bookplate.

I forgot to mention that during the time leading up to the screening of the Shriek movie, we had The Church's soundtrack to Shriek playing in the background, which made for good party music.
We screened the Shriek movie, which according to most accounts was trippy, and managed to evoke suspense while relying mostly on voice acting, photography, lighting effects and some archival footage. Some of our friend's couldn't get into the lack of live action shots to correspond to the voice acting and narration, but overall the movie seemed to have made our friends more curious in the war between the Greycaps and Ambergris' human inhabitants (personally I think the fungal mines cinched it for the guys). Interesting detail that stuck in my mind: I don't know if it was done on purpose, but if you watch Janet Shriek's eye closely it seems as though the movement of her eye unsettles the iris, causing it to swirl out of place and spill over onto the sclera, and gravitate back into place when eye movements end. Or am I just crazy?

Promotional materials that came along with the Vandergoodies left with our guests in small bags at about 1:00 AM. All in all the movie party was a success and we can proudly announce that it has led at least three of our friends to start reading Vandermeer.

*****************

In case you're not familiar with Jeff Vandermeer and/or Ambergris, the fictional location in which City of Saints and Madmen, and Shriek: An Afterward are situated, Jeff has uploaded his "Rough Guide to Ambergris" to Youtube (watch out for the sexy typeset):

Part 1

Part 2

For more Shriek news and information please visit:

http://www.shriekthenovel.com/

Please click on the picture of Shriek's cover to purchase it from Amazon!

ParaSpheres

2007-02-19T08:49:00.000-05:00

Couple of updates:

I finally paid for a life-time membership with LibraryThing, so I will be obsessively cataloging my books in the upcoming weeks. Woohoo!! Once I'm done, I will post a link to it, so all five of you that read this can see my library =). If you have a LibraryThing account, be my friend! I promise I won't bite.

I'm currently reading ParaSpheres: Extending Beyond the Spheres of Literary and Genre Fiction. This is one of my favorite anthologies of 2006, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a solid sample of fiction of the fantastic. (The picture on the cover is from one of my favorite artists, Michael Parkes. I will do another post on him sometime in the future.)

Of the many talented authors I have read so far in this collection, the one that stands out to me the most is Leena Krohn. ParaSpheres features 3 stories from her (she is that talented). Ms. Krohn is a prolific and prize-winning Finnish author. Only one of her novels has made it into English translation: Tainaron: Mail From Another City. Amazon.com gives an excellent summary, and if anyone is interested in an excerpt, leave me a comment and I'll send you a link to chapters of the book.

I am also highly anticipating the release of Leena Krohn's novel, Pereat Mundus. Omnidawn, the same publishers that put out ParaSpheres will be releasing this sometime in Spring 2008. This novel written in 36 chapters will contemplate a variation of apocalyptic futures. If the three spectacular stories from this novel included in Paraspheres is any indication, this will be some of the best fiction published in 2008.

Ranting

2007-02-15T13:28:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a hiatus from leisure reading, to reread those couple of novels that I'm suppose to review for Blogcritics.org

So I'll be taking a little time on this post to gripe about my favorite subject: my inability to find people in this city that are interested in genre-defying sci-fi/fantasy (new wave fabulist, slipstream, new weird, fantastic fiction, and so on and so forth).

I understand partially the reason why I can't find people who like this stuff is my inability to coin a term that describes it properly. I guess that's the whole point.

Finally, last year, I went to a meeting run by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society in an attempt to meet people who had read some of my favorite authors. The group was great: fun, warm, and intelligent; but when someone pulled out a list of things wrong with the science of a particular novel, I knew that I wouldn't necessarily find what I was looking for here. I keep on thinking, there has to be one other person in my city that loves what I read. I keep my fingers crossed that I will meet that person. =)

Secret Rooms

2007-02-12T11:50:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been dreaming about secret rooms again. A recurring dream that I have, in which suddenly and inexplicably, I discover rooms I've never seen before in a house that I have lived in for years.

In my dreams, this discovery never disconcerts me and I wind my way through a corridor leading to these rooms as if nothing about this is peculiar. I feel déjà vu, as if I've always known that these rooms existed, even though they do not.

The rooms are usually lavish and expansive but in a run-down sort of way. The word that comes to mind is haunted.

Often this mysterious section of the house looks lived in, but as if it was suddenly abandoned. Clothes thrown haphazardly on the sofas slip to the ground. Tea-cups sit on coffee tables leaving behind blemishes in the wood. I usually feel a mixture of elation at the discovery, and dread because I'm afraid that the tenants will suddenly appear again and find me here---trespassing.

Last night's dream was a variation on this theme.

I'm living in an apartment with my parents, and find in the back of the apartment, a set of rooms that I've never seen before. I explore these rooms and my cat comes with me.

The rooms themselves are vague in my memory until I reach a messy bedroom with beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides. Late afternoon sunshine streams through the partially open blinds and a glance outside reveals a well-kept neighborhood lined with tall trees. The cat explores this room, and together we discover a door.

The door is ornate. There is a panel of opaque glass outlined in cast iron in the upper portion of the door. It looks as if someone is behind the door. But I know this is not true, because there is a large gap between the door and the floor as if someone had cut off the bottom of the door. I know there is no one behind the door, because I do not see their legs.

I hesitate, standing there gazing at the door. And the cat makes the decision for me, as she saunters through the opening.

As I open the door, I am faced with a stairs leading down, and a hallway to my left. I hear footsteps coming up the stairs and I realize that I am not alone.

I grab the cat and retreat into the safety of the bedroom. I close the door and bolt it and it dawns on me that that I did not have to unbolt it before ---which means that it has always been unlocked.

This disturbs me, but it is not the source of my unease, for all my attention is focused on the large gap between this door and the floor. Large enough for my cat to escape from the comfort of my arms, and large enough for a person to crawl through. This gap fills me with horror.

When you have the winter blues...

2007-02-07T09:53:00.000-05:00

What I look at, when I'm feeling down. Thank goodness for Flickr =).

Flickr

2007-02-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

I started a Flickr account. I think you can click on this link to see my photos:

David U.'s Flickr Photos

If that doesn't work you can just search for "silenziatori" on the flickr website.

Season of Bla

2007-02-05T11:41:00.000-05:00

I hate this messy, temperamental winter, without even the magic of snow. Mama U. thought the whole city smelled like pee; I couldn't agree more.

This Monday leaves me wondering what Chicago is like, I mean it can't get much uglier than this, can it? But then again they don't call us The Windy City.

Everyone looks so miserable and pinched. Wondering if people who live in colder climates are just a little more masochistic than people who live somewhere warmer?

Animal Others

2007-02-03T08:52:00.000-05:00

One of the Christmas presents I received last year from Cindy, was this great book on animals from a continental philosophy perspective, Animal Others: On Ethics, Ontology, and Animal Life. I haven't managed to read most of the essays; continental philosophy is the kind of writing that I have to wade through very slowly and patiently, constantly looking up references and terminology (although the prose is much more colorful than the mostly dry and straightforward analytic writing, typically). I'll post more about the essays and the book in general soon but for know I'll leave you with a quotation included in the essay "Animals, Becoming" by Lynda Birke and Luciana Parisi.

"If you wish to know why there are disasters
of armies and people in the world,
listen to the piteous cries
from the slaughterhouse at midnight."

(Ancient Chinese verse)

2007-02-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

Mama U. is in town, so we're going to wine and dine her and show her the city! And maybe just maybe, I'll try my rusty non-existent Spanish with her.

There will probably be very little going on here until after the weekend, so check back then =).

Saying goodbye to Middlesex (for now)

2007-02-01T14:29:00.000-05:00

I attacked Middlesex with much gusto earlier this month, having just finished Atonement, a book that has reinstated my faith in general critical opinion.

Two chapters in, I realized that this wasn't going to be Atonement. You see, I had assumed for some bizarre reason that the two books would be alike in some way, a silly mistake stemming from the fact that I keep on grouping these two books together mentally---because I had heard about them around the same time, and purchased them together at the Strand, etc. Obviously I had not digested the back of either book very carefully before I began.

Another chapter in and I realized that I was not prepared for the mental and emotional drain of a great family epic.

It's not that I don't enjoy family epics, but ever after reading One Hundred Years of Solitude and Shame simultaneously, I can't help but feel tired whenever I pick up a book that is blatantly going to surround not only the family, but generations upon generations of that family.

Maybe its so many lives condensed into one book that makes me feel slightly giddy and hysterical. But I need to be mentally prepared for these volumes, preferably reading them in the hazy light of June, with a teddy bear firmly cradled in one arm, and hopefully after having just finished several 'they lived happily ever after' type stories.

Definitely not a book for the dead of winter, when I'm realizing once again that this is not the season for me. An ironic twist, since much of my life has been spent in a place with spectacular, breath-takingly beautiful winters.

So back onto the shelves it will go, this book that I will eventually read, but later when the days are longer.

Penn Law Student Keeps it Gangsta

2007-02-01T14:22:00.000-05:00

From the Daily Pennsylvanian: a second-year University of Pennsylvania law school student shoots his neighbor's doorknob off the door with 13-15 rounds from a 9mm Glock. From the article, it seems this person thought, and rationally so, that because his neighbors are from India and are studying bioengineering, they were spying on him. I don't know about you, but I don't see the direct link between an Indian bioengineering student and being spied upon. Anyways, kudos to him for lighting a match to at least $80,000.

"Law student arrested for firing at neighbors"

Check out the Magnificent Octopus

2007-02-01T09:21:00.000-05:00

I just found this fantastic blog. Maybe someday I'll be able to write like this person. I have my fingers crossed =).

Go here and check it out, and be sure to browse!

On Procrastination, and pondering what makes Notes On a Scandal 'literary'.

2007-01-31T14:10:00.000-05:00

I am so behind on reviewing books, that I have rather developed a guilt complex towards it. One that makes me feel like hiding behind bushes, or creeping around with a paper bag on my head in case anyone recognizes how much of a procrastinator I am or want to remind me that I have several reviews on my to-do-list that have been there for quite a while.

The trick I think, for future reference, is not to actually claim that I'm going to do such and such until after I have done it. The trick is to not try to take on so many books that I want review, and then feel overwhelmed because really its been a month, and I can't remember exactly what I wanted to say except cliched things like "fantastic, a mixture of the [insert great literary author name] and [insert another great literary author]", etc.

Of course I promptly ignore my own advice, and decide, to in fact write a entry about my procrastination therefore calling attention to the fact that I haven't really written many reviews lately, and also in doing so, promise once again, that I will get those reviews written very very soon.

Which really brings me to the point of today's post, my thoughts on What Was She Thinking: [Notes On A Scandal] - Zoe Heller. As many of you know the novel was made into a movie starring Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench very recently. Those of you who are waiting to get your hands on the book after seeing the movie may be a little disappointed, since the book proves to be a very much watered-down version of what you see on screen.

In the novel, Judi Dench's character, Barbara is not so much a manipulative, controlling she-demon, as she is a pathetic middle-aged spinster who has very nasty and opinionated thoughts about most of the people in her life. While there were some lesbian undertones in her character towards Cate Blanchett's Sheba , I felt the book version of Barbara wanted what Sheba has: youth, beauty, people that adored her, and most essentially human companionship, more than a relationship with Sheba. The book is a study of loneliness, and the human desire to be loved and wanted by others.

Interestingly enough, Babara of the book reminds me distinctly of the character, Amelia, from Kate Atkinson's Case Histories. While Judi Dench's version of Babara can be horrifying to watch, the book Barbara inspires more feelings of pity than loathing. The book and movie differ in this aspect.

Having said that, I'm not so sure that I would prefer the book over the movie. I certainly think that the words 'literary thriller', as touted by the back cover, is a stretch.

While I had no problems with the book as it is written (it tells the story in a straightforward Bridget Jonesy type narrative), I'm not sure exactly why critics found this book stellar in comparison to others. Critics have made claims that this novel is an intense study of psychological and emotional complexity but half way through the novel, I began to wonder if I was reading the same book as those people.

Admittedly the novel does tackle taboo and slightly sinister issues, and yes it uses an unreliable narrative.

But that's it.

There seems very little that is complex about the story or how it is told once we figure out that Barbara is a shaky narrator with very delusional, and needy personality and that Sheba is just the self-absorbed counterpart who feeds on Babara's attention as Babara feeds on her.

Some critics have also mentioned that the novel is darkly comic, but I found this gives the reader a very warped sense of the story, unless we now count sarcasm in its most bitter form as comic. While the novel is an careful study of character, the story seems to function just as well on screen as it does in words. Certainly I felt the story (in the novel) was told just as simply if only more subtlety in comparison to the movie

Although I did not find this novel to be bad, I can not help but be disappointed with the critical assessment which lead me to believe that I was going to read a much better and more interesting novel than this. Overall a disappointment, especially considering the quality and inventiveness of the books that I have recently been reading.

It's meme time!

2007-01-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? Trade paperback. Although for any of my favorite books, I'll usually end up acquiring the hardback later on. There are times when I've also been known to buy every edition of a book that I can get my hands on. I have no idea why I do this, except maybe a deeply rooted fear that some of these authors will sadly be out-of-print one day, and if something should happen to one copy of the book, then at least I'll have another. This behavior is usually reserved for those authors who should be more widely read anyways, so I never feel bad about spending the money.

Amazon or brick and mortar? Almost always Amazon (and Abesbooks.com), usually because of the price and the selection. However if I lived closer to something like the Strand, I prefer brick and mortar. I still go to bookstores on the weekends for the pure joy of browsing the shelves and displays.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Whichever one is closer. I have to confess that I love these huge megastores, most likely because this is where I choose to hide from the mandatory socializing events that they forced on us freshman year of college. I always found these events startling as you had to put everything you've got: SAT scores, looks, aspirations, social graces, etc., on the table so that your peers may decide whether you were friend-worthy or not. It just seemed so silly and terrifying at the same time. Thank goodness for my college Barnes and Noble.

Bookmark or dogear? Neither, I can't ever seem to keep one bookmark long enough to actually use it. And I couldn't stand to dogear a book unless it was something that I was only reading for class (and only if I find myself despising the author for some reason). Really, the only book I've ever dog-eared is my copy of Pillar of Hercules by Paul Theroux. I found him to be a pretentious gasbag. Anyways, whenever I read, I usually spend 3 or 4 minutes looking for the right page, it's very inefficient.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? I use to alphabetize by author. Now the arrangement is a bit more eclectic. I tend to group authors by themes that they work on, or how I feel about them.

Keep, throw away, or sell? Keep. It's very very painful for me to get rid of any book that I took the trouble to buy. But now that I've found BookMooch, I've gotten better at getting rid of some things.

Keep dustjacket or toss it? Why would you ever want to toss it?

Read with dustjacket or remove it? Remove it. Unfortunately, I'm very OCD about my books.

Short story or novel? Before last year, I would have said novel with some certainty. However, I've been reading more collections in the last two years, and now, I'm no longer so sure. A good short story is a very profound experience. There are some stories that evoke a mood or make a impression that never leaves you. I find that very powerful. I'm also very fond of the novella.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? I like both for different reasons: anthology - to try new authors; collection - to experience an author that I already enjoy. I find I have to skip around a lot more in anthologies because the constant change in style makes it hard for me to focus for a long period of time.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Well...Potter I guess, although I feel that this isn't much of a contest. I consider Lemony Snicket one of those rip offs of Harry Potter that actually succeeded. More of a good marketing effort than anything else.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? When tired.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? A mixture of the two. See Veniss Underground, Etched City, Things That Never Happen, Magic For Beginners, The Barnum Museum, among others. (Actually a stellar list when it comes to sheer talent and imagination. Read anything on this list, and you won't regret it.)

Buy or Borrow? As a kid, I used to frequent the library as much as I did school, so it's embarrassing to admit that answer is Buy.

New or used? New, or gently used.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? I try not to read book-reviews to in-depth because often they reveal too much or color my own opinions of the book. I do enjoy reading reviews after finishing a novel. I love recommendations and browsing, and rely heavily on both.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? To be honest, both sound unappealing. My only criteria for endings is that they must make sense in relation to the rest of the book. Although usually books that tie up everything make me feel slightly uncomfortable.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Reading in the afternoon is very pleasurable to me because this usually means it's the holidays or my day off. I prefer to read in daylight, but actually spend much more time reading at night.

Standalone or series? Standalone, although I preferred series as a kid. I think series for adults are difficult to write. They are generally a disappointment for me.

Favorite series? Follow the link.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Nothing pops immediately to mind although I have just discovered a beautiful "children's" book called The Rabbits by John Marsden, illustrated by Shaun Tan, which tells an allegorical tale about colonialism and the ecological destruction and culture exploitation that follows. Here is the cover:

Go to Shaun Tan's website for more pictures from the book.

2007-01-26T10:37:00.000-05:00

http://kjbishop.net/2007/01/17/wanna-uterus-anyone.html

Couldn't agree more.

Traveling with the Colleague from Hell

2007-01-25T09:06:00.000-05:00

I was out in Chicago for business earlier this week, and have just returned tired and worn out from the trip. The business itself was fairly pleasant, but I ended up traveling with a colleague who has a rather "difficult" personality. It is incredibly hard to be professional with someone, when you just want to tell the person to shut the hell up. I felt that I was channeling Jack Nicholson in the end, you know, in The Shining, when he starts going psychotic inside, but manages to remain seemingly normal.

I also have developed pet peeves for people who cough on other people, who whisper loudly and rudely about strangers, who always have conversations three or four decibels too high in crowded places, who insist on telling me about how they're constipated every time we eat, who pick at themselves with their hands, who eat at nice restaurants with their hands, who is clearly homophobic and makes jokes about people with handicaps, who complains about how it's so cold that they will surely die from hypothermia, and then, when you turn up the heat, about how it's so hot that that they can't breathe, and who in general have no social graces or sensitivity and kindness to anyone but themselves. You think people like this only exist as grandiose caricatures in movies or books, but apparently not. I was traveling with just such a person for three whole days. It was three of the most difficult days of my life.

On the brighter note, I did end up reading my fair share of books on the trip, finishing up Whats Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal, and Martin Dressler. I will be posting my thoughts about these a little later.

Apparently cat-ownership is equivalent to devil worship...

2007-01-18T13:56:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Syntax of Things, I found this little gem.

I'm speechless, really, I don't know what to say...

Here's an excerpt

Additionally, cats practice many unclean habits not befitting a Christian household: coughing up fur balls, licking inappropriate body areas on their own bodies (inappropriate handling) and even, in some cases, on the bodies of their human owners (wrongful motive?), urination on the floor, vocal and blatant promiscuity (unknown to any other species, all others being endowed with Godly chastity and decorum)

Obviously this person has never watched Animal Planet. . .

GNOOKS!

2007-01-18T12:55:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across this great website called Gnooks, where you can get author or book recommendations based on authors you already enjoy. While many sites have algorithms that generate recommendations based on preferences, I feel this program creates more interesting if not better suggestions.

My favorite function on Gnooks is the literature map. This program generates a map of authors based on any name that you enter. You can also click any of the names on the map to create a new map.

The other great function is Gnod's Suggestions. After entering three authors you like, you are given a string of recommendations based on your input. The website appears to have similar functions for music and movies, so if you have a free minute, I would highly recommend a visit.

Peru, here we come!!!!

2007-01-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

We're going to Peru!

That's right, David and I, along with one of our best friends, will be planning a trip there in March. It was this or a new laptop, and, well, you can have a new laptop at any point in life; but the opportunity for travel sadly diminishes as you get older (not for everyone, I know, but it certainly becomes more difficult with jobs and families). Naturally we had to go with Peru.

I will make an attempt to journal our experiences while we are on the trip, which should apear here afterwards if everything goes well. If anyone has any travel suggestions or advice, feel free to leave us a comment.

The Impetus of Dreams: Daniel Merriam

2007-01-16T15:41:00.000-05:00

While pilfering book piles at home in West Virginia, I came upon this art book, by surrealist Daniel Merriam. I had completely forgotten I had this book!

A couple of years ago, I discovered his mesmerizing work, and purchased his art book: The Impetus of Dreams (something I'm very glad that I did, because sadly it is now out of print).

He ranks as one of my favorite contemporary artists, along with Michael Parkes. I'll post some samples from the book later. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, Abesbooks.com is probably your best bet at this point.

Atonement and White Noise

2007-01-12T11:17:00.000-05:00

I was in West Virginia this past weekend (it's an actual state, not western Virginia...you'd be surprised how many times I have to make this distinction). I went down with some friends for a quiet weekend in the woods. It turned out to be a very quiet weekend indeed, since rain and mud made most of the hiking and walking about that I had planned unappealing. However it was a great weekend for reading and pillaging my old bookshelves for books that I didn't even remember purchasing.

I also finished Atonement by Ian McEwan, a book that I now wish we had picked to read for our book group instead of White Noise. In every way, Atonement is the more appealing novel. It is easier to read and at the same time more substantive.

I guess, the disclaimer here is that I found White Noise to be stylistically interesting but ultimately unsatisfying as a novel. To me, White Noise would've been more effective as a short story or novella. I felt that the central ideas and themes were too thin to justify the entire book. Certainly, the first half of the novel gave ample space to Delillo's exploration of 'rampant consumerism', 'media saturation' and other central themes. By the time we reach the end, the novelty and repetitiveness of his technique has long worn off, leaving the reader somewhat bored, apathetic, if not a little at a loss for words.

Atonement on the other hand, is a well-crafted if complex novel set before, during, and after Word War II. The story centers around 13-year-old Briony Tallis and the crime that she commits unwittingly one summer day on her parents' estate. The crime and it's repercussions haunt Briony through World War II, and into the final years of the 20th century. Atonement is a heartbreaking novel that examines themes of class, war, regret and guilt. (I spent the last half of the book intermittently weeping and trying to convince David that I was fine.)

While Atonement is a tragic book, it is not oppressively so. The plot is excellent, and while I have my own opinions about the alleged plagiarism of Lucilla Andrews' autobiography No Time for Romance in the latter half of the book---no one should be able to lift passages from someone's else's book almost verbatim without giving proper credit to the original--- it does not make me think any less of the merit of Atonement.

With or without those plagiarized passages, Atonement is a fantastic novel, one that I would highly recommend to anyone.

Ford Airstream Concept

2007-01-10T17:25:00.000-05:00

3 things:

First, I'm not an expert, but isn't it rather a mistake to make a car that could be mistaken for the passing landscape?

Secondly, I can see other cars being blinded on a sunny day by those reflective surfaces. I mean is it really safe to drive this thing?

Lastly it's really just not very attractive.

An Enchanted Bestiary

2007-01-09T20:51:00.000-05:00

Another book I got for Christmas was Sowa's Ark: An Enchanted Bestiary, an artbook filled with the whimsical paintings by the German artist Michael Sowa. I love his work for its fascinating and often surreal paintings of animals.

Some people may recognize Sowa's name because his artwork is featured in the film Amélie. His paintings adorn the walls of Amélie's bedroom, and at one point come to life to have a conversation about her love life.

Here are several pictures taken from the book. As the artbook has gone out of print several times, and it is incredibly hard to find compilations of his work in the US. Those who are interested in getting a copy should do so sooner rather than later.

Christmas pile - Part 1

2007-01-09T19:24:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the books that David and I gave each other for Christmas.

From top to bottom:

1. A Passion For Books - A compilation of lists, essays, and other interesting tidbits about our favorite subject, books.

2. An beautiful volume of Raymond Chandler novels from Everyman's Library - A gift for David, since I am not a big fan of the hardboiled detective novel.

3. The Intellectual Devotional - A book of 365 lessons in 7 subjects: literature, history, science, music, religion, philosophy, and visual arts. It is meant to be read daily for an year as a way to round out your education and stimulate your mind. Reading it is kind of like browsing Wikipedia. And I find I have a hard time sticking to just one lesson per day.

4. J.M. Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello which I think is brilliant.

5. Dana Copithorne's The Steam Magnate, a book I'm saving to be devoured on a rainy day.

6. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. It is so entertaining, that I took a break from The Wings of the Dove, and finished this in two sittings. Bill Bryson's travel writing is as intelligent as it is uproariously funny. Highly recommended, although it has given me an irrational phobia of bears. . . especially considering I live in the city.

7. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Surprisingly light for it's size and absolutely a must have for us)

8. Nova Swing, M. John Harrison's new novel. David ordered this from the UK for me much to my delight and surprise. It's not out in the U.S. yet, so I wasn't expecting to get a copy until later this year.

9. Rain Forest - An absolutely gorgeous coffee table book on the flora and fauna of rain forests around the world.

That's all for now, I'll have the rest posted hopefully by next week.

Did you know. . .

2007-01-06T09:56:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes was a habitual user of cocaine and morphine?

Blog Transformations

2007-01-04T23:51:00.000-05:00

I eventually had to switch back to a blogger design because, everything I wanted to do was taking up so much time. Sighh, I hated to give up the 3 column design, but the fiddling with code was driving me insane.

The Barnum Museum - Steve Millhauser

2007-01-04T14:46:00.000-05:00

I was in the bookstore yesterday enjoying my last day before work, when I happened upon several books by Steven Millhauser, A name that had popped up on a friend's TBR list and intrigued me since his stories often have fantastical elements. He has won numerous awards including a Pulitzer, although sadly from the availability of his work on Amazon, I take it that he is not as widely read as he should be.

While in the bookstore, I managed to read a short story of his from his collection titled: The Barnum Museum. The story takes place around a game table in the midst of a game of Clue. Somehow within the breadth of a few pages, Steven Millhauser manages to take you into the people that surround the table exploring fears and desires, and the definitions of a family. At the same time, Millhauser breathes life into the game of Clue, which itself becomes populated with real characters and their own individual sets of motivations and desires. As the game progresses, and the the characters of Clue wander through the mansion trying to find a murderer or maybe themselves, so does our understanding of those who sit around the table.

I was so enchanted with the story that I have ordered The Barnum Museum online, and will be going to the bookstore after work to pick up another collection titled, Little Kingdoms. If you're a fan of Kelly Link, be sure to check him out!

(*Update* - Just found out that The Illusionist was based on a short story of his.)

A Belated Happy New Year

2007-01-02T09:50:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated New Year!!! I just got back from a trip to New York, so there's not much to report. At some point today or tomorrow, I will be posting pictures of the new books that David and I received this Christmas.

Currently reading: The Wings of the Dove and Shamrock Tea - I know late Henry James is not easy but I have to admit this book has been more frustrating that I had expected. In my mind I keep on hearing a phrase quoted by Scuttle the Seagull from Disney's The Little Mermaid. The phrase screeched during the grotto scene pretty much sums up how I feel about what I've read so far of The Wings of the Dove.

"Nothing is happening!!!!!!"

I know, not a very original or constructive complaint when talking about James, and even an odder reference to The Little Mermaid, but maybe I'm just a little tired from my trip. Happy New Year!

Gender Genie

2006-12-29T12:35:00.000-05:00

Interesting program from Bookblog.net that predicts whether the author is male or female based on the text that you enter into it. Very cool.

The page 123 meme

2006-12-29T10:13:00.000-05:00

While perusing Reading Matters, one of the book blogs that I frequent, I came upon this particularly whimisical meme.

The page 123 meme

The instructions are as follows:
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of the next three sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the book and the author.
5. Tag three people.

Page 123 was the end of a chapter with only three sentences, so I turned to page 124 and counted two sentences down.

Here it is:

Thus, on All Soul's Day, 1959, Materlinck and I found ourselves in a crocodile winding its way through a profusion of bamboos, tree ferns, palms, banana plants, cycads, orchids, overhanging mosses, and pitcher plants. The sub-tropical atmosphere dripped with outlandish perfumes; in the outside world beyond the curved glass walls it was freezing cold. As Fr Brown paused at a fork of the path, it began to snow.

What fun, this is one of those books that have been sitting on my book shelves for ages. It's a beautiful and odd book in 101 chapters, each titled with a different color from Dragon's Blood to Dorian Gray:

Shamrock Tea - Ciaran Carson

I'll be sending this to some of my friends in hope that they're bored enough to participate^_^.

Amazon Chase Credit Card - BEWARE!

2006-12-29T09:13:00.000-05:00

It's always unpleasant around the holidays to have to deal with credit card companies. This holiday season I had a particularly frustrating experience.

If you are a frequent shopper at Amazon.com, no doubt you have been tempted at one time or another to apply for the Amazon Chase credit card. You are offered an instant $30 coupon to go towards an Amazon purchase, plus with every purchase, you earn points to go towards another gift certificate. Sounds tempting? It certainly did to me.

Word of advice, this is one card you can do without. After the six month the APR skyrockets up, and while this has not affected me because I do pay off the card completely every month, trying to claim the rewards is another story.

Companies love gift cards and gift certificates because many people forget to use them or a portion of them. Additionally most people end up spending more then their gift card or gift certificate. All in all this means greater revenue for the company when it comes to these things. There is nothing ethically wrong about this.

However when a company promises a gift certificate and then manages to 'lose' it in the mail everytime, one begins to question their business practices.

I have earned two $25 gift certificates since signing up in May, 2006. While my bill for that particular month always seems to get here just fine, the gift certificate (sent out seperately and 14 days later...hmm I wonder why) always gets 'lost' in the mail. Additionally, Chase offers a paperless service, but they DO NOT and WILL NOT (I've asked) send this portion to you by email or online in your account center (again, I wonder why?).

The 'business rationale' behind this is that most people will forget, and/or get confused about how many rewards they are entitled to and therefore leave their rewards unclaimed. And since Chase doesn't make it easy for you to track it down--- they have the most apathetic, snide and confused customer service reps that I have ever had to deal with---they discourage you from tracking your rewards.

The last reward certificate I earned should have come to me in the middle of November. To this date, I have yet to receive it.

Between now and then, I have made three or four calls. I have been told that my address was changed (not by me), that I should not be receiving any rewards because I didnt have enough points (not true, customer service rep was very confused), had my call dropped twice, and on the last time promised a solution within days(this was in early December---I still don't have it, although they did manage to mail me a duplicate bill.)

If it had been just once, I would've understood, but this has happened to me each and everytime I have earned rewards and each time it gets harder and more humiliating to track it down. It doesn't take much brainpower to see a pattern.

Anyways this card is not worth the pain and anguish, as I hope I have demonstrated. Please let anyone who is thinking about this card know. As a booklover, I hate to see people with the same passion that I have tricked and humiliated in this way. Alright, sorry for the long rant, check back tommorow for postings of the lovely presents that David and I received this season.

Pictures From This Year

2006-12-21T22:34:00.000-05:00

Mostly for my friends and relatives. . . scroll down for pictures from my bookshelves.

My pretty pretty boyfriend^^

Me and my mommy!!
At the beautiful Longwood Gardens:

Our Formal:

I may look cute and harmless, but I planning ways to kill you right now...

One picture too many

Books!(click for enlarged photo):
Some of my favorite children's books:

More books:
Why I love the Folio Society:

One of my bookshelves. Thats it! Happy Holidays!!

The Year's Best Underrated Authors

2006-12-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

Getting sick of seeing the same books and authors on all the year's best lists? Then go here to the underrated list of writers for 2006 compiled by some of the best litbloggers around.

Notice Jeff Vandermeer, Jeff Ford, Iain Banks, and Laird Hunt all made the list. GO read them!!!!

Early New Year's Resolution

2006-12-19T14:51:00.000-05:00

I have decided that I'm going to challenge myself to read 100 books next year. I know I'm overreaching, but part of the fun is seeing if I can live up to at least one new year's resolution this year.

After what can only be called an hiatus from reading in college, I have finally managed to get back into a reading schedule in the past five months. Hopefully next year, I will be able to read more non-fiction, as well as collections of stories. I would like to also read a greater variety of authors and keep a better reading journal as part of the process.

Here's my new Amazon wishlist for some books that I would like to read in 2007.

A story told with grocery lists...

2006-12-18T15:11:00.000-05:00

Fascinating, David sent me this link today. A (excerpt?) short story made up completely of grocery lists.

5 Highly Recommended Short Story Collections

2006-12-18T14:06:00.000-05:00

It's interesting to reflect as this year comes to end, how much I've become enamored with short story form. Since an early age, I have always preferred the novel to the short story. But as I have grown to love form and style as much as I love plot and character, short stories have become increasingly appealing to me.

This year there were numerous collections that I have found immensely rewarding, and still more that are on my to-be-read list. Here are a couple of them

Things That Never Happen - M. John Harrison. Possibly my all-time favorite collection and certainly the one collection that was most influential in making me love the form. This is a work in fantastic fiction, but many times what is fantastic in the stories takes a backseat to the very realistic characters that inhabit Harrison's slightly sinister England.

M. John Harrison stories are usually amorphous which does not mean that he lacks clarity in his craft. Like many good things in literature, this collection takes effort on part of the reader. It does not make the stories any less enjoyable as an experience, but one can not expect to be provided with the answers at the end.

There is something about Harrison's writing that is intensely terrible, haunting and realistic as well. Harrison never writes of people who are whole. His characters are broken human beings, who are aware and in many ways disastisfied with their state. They are constantly seeking something---perhaps meaning, perhaps magic in their lives. Yet this need or urge, even when the character succeeds, is never rewarding, but in turn haunts them. There is something terrible about existence, and I feel that Harrison captures this in his stories. There is great power and emotion in his writing, and it's written with absolutely beautiful prose. Go here for a better description of his work.

Magic for Beginners - Kelly Link
Magic for Beginners is notches higher than her first collection Stranger Things Happen, which was lauded by both mainstream and genre critics. I'd highly recommend, "The Faery Handbag", "Stone Animals", and "Lull".

The Lottery: And Other Stories - Shirley Jackson
I have always been fascinated by Shirley Jackson, and I find it somewhat tragic that the only thing I ever read by her in high school was The Lottery. Her ghost stories are equally fantastic. The Haunting of Hill House is easily the most terrifying example of the classic haunted house story. Read it and see why.

The next two are books that are on my TBR list.

Brief Encounters with Che Guevara - Ben Fountain

The Dead Fish Museum - Charles D'Ambrosio

Discovering Elizabeth Costello

2006-12-17T18:59:00.000-05:00

I'm reading J.M. Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello at the moment. It's no wonder that he is considered one of the greatest writers alive. While I hold little stock in general pronouncements of this nature, Coetzee's mastery of language and expression would, I imagine, make any novelist slightly envious. I'm fascinated by the book, especially the way the Mr. Coetzee examines the life of this particular writer, Elizabeth Costello. The writing is concise yet eloquent, and proves that intelligent and masterful does not always mean difficult and inaccessible. It's this sort of book that makes me elated that I can read the English language.

Elizabeth Costello is a hard book to describe. It is grouped together into eight chapters, called "Lessons". Each chapter tells an set of events that happen in the life of an Australian writer named Elizabeth Costello. Some have said that the books is closer to philosophy than fiction. The books describes actions and events framed around rhetoric pieces in which characters define and explore the "African Novel", the "Lives of Animals", and so on. The rhetoric pieces, usually speeches delivered to an audience, are perhaps what makes some people categorize this novel as philosophy. I find this somewhat of a useless categorization. Certainly, Coetzee philosophizes; but he does so in the voice of his characters---flawed, often rambling philosophizing that not only shares ideas, but the inner workings of the characters themselves. This gives a frame of reference, so that we may study the ideas through the characters rather than in vaccum.

This is my first experience with Coetzee, I can not say for sure whether much of this text is autobiographical in nature. To me this seems to be a slight question in comparison to the ones posed in the text.

Now I crawl back into my hole to explore the book.

What I'm listening to...

2006-12-15T16:22:00.000-05:00

The Bat Segundo Show of course. For some reason it took me this long to stumble onto the site, and listen. Features hour-length interviews with prominent authors about various topics. Great when your procrastinating or on a long commute. Go check it out, and listen to interviews of Kelly Link, Jeff Vandermeer, and Jeff Ford, (some of my favorite authors) as well as David Mitchell, Bret Easton Ellis..the list goes on.

The Morality of HAL 9000

2006-12-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

David and I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey last night, and I have to say it was an impressive film if you can appreciate the art of long stretches of silence and the hotly debateded and highly ambiguous ending. I know allegroically, the movie is suppose to send a rather specific and signficant philosophical message, but since I don't have the analytical ability to discuss those things, I wanted just to muse over some emotional responses that I had to the movie.

I found it interesting that both David and I were incredibly sympathetic towards HAL throughout the movie. In fact I would go so far to say that I felt much sorrier for HAL than I did for David Bowman. After all, Bowman and Poole were the ones who initialy plotted the 'death' of the computer, and what HAL does is in reaction to a threat to his own sentience. Since HAL is built with the ability to 'mimic' or reproduce all higher human functions, he should be recognized as a cognizant entity in his own right, one that has every interest and right to protect his state of being.

It's interesting because I wonder whether people feel empathy for HAL or whether the vast majority of viewers see him as a threat to be overcome rather than a character in a moral drama. I found it interesting that most people on the internet use the word 'murder' to describe HAL actions in pulling the life support from the sleeping scientists, but used other words such as 'disconnect' to describe what Bowman and Poole intended to do with HAL. If we treat HAL as a sentient being, as he is obviously meant to be treated, it doesn't seem these two actions are any different.

From this prospective, HAL is not a crazed, murdering computer but rather a being who reacts in order to defend his right to have sentience. This makes his actions not those of agression or betrayal, but rather those of defense. He must kill in order to avoid being killed. Once Bowman and Poole determine that HAL is in error, he does not have the option for mercy or rational argument, because Bowman and Poole view HAL's sentience as a tool, not as an entity in its own right. So HAL's actions under this light can be interpreted as the actions of a rational being who acts in self-defense. Interesting that viewers preceive him to be villianous, psychotic, and a cold-blooded murderer...

Notes to Self

2006-12-12T16:33:00.000-05:00

It's close to the beginning of the New Year, and I am no where close to finishing my autumn reading list. The problem lies partially in the fact that I have completely ignored the pact I made with myself to put a hold on buying books until I've finished my list. There was a Barnes and Noble Classics sale that I couldn't pass up, and the Amazon orders that I made without even thinking about my pact, and of course the books that were sent to me for review.

All in all, I don't even want to make a list of the unread books in my apartment because I think I may get a headache. So I'm making a couple of notes to self to keep me on track in the new year.

Pay off your fines, and start actually using your library card. After all it seems that your taste in books is completely off kilter when compared to the general public, so there's no point in shelling out 14 bucks everytime something hits the bestsellers list. Case in point: You were so unimpressed with Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time that you have actually considered using it as a doorstop.

Books = dead weight, something your going to bemoan when you have to move once again. So unless you think that book you are coveting is going become out of print before you move into a real house, don't even think about it.

Have you noticed that everytime you get a new book you have to rearrange everything? Even though almost all the furniture in your apartment aside from the bed and the couch serves as some sort of bookshelf? That is in addition to the 3 bookshelfs you already have? And have you noticed that still, you have to keep some of the books in piles in your chairs and on your windowsills? You know people have been buried alive in books right?

Books are for reading, and the TBR/read ratio is making a mockery of you.

Finish a book, please for goodness sakes, finish a book!!!

The ways that childhood can be damaging

2006-12-12T15:21:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been feeling incredibly scatterbrained everytime I try to sit down and write. I can't seem to focus, and something in the back of my head keeps on telling me that I should be doing something else.

It's times like this that I find myself thinking about doing a hundred math problems. Because that's the sort of thing that my dad use to spring on me to see whether I was on top of my game in middle school and high school. Finishing those problems always made me feel accomplished and calmer, because my father was pleased, and I felt that I had proven myself once again.

I guess I was/am so used to pleasing my parents, that I see myself from their reference point when I gauge my accomplishments. Whenever my values and desires conflict with those of my parents, I find myself fighting tidal waves of guilt, anxiety, and doubt. So even though doing an hundred math problems right now would be a completely meaningless gesture, I still feel that it will benefit me in some way that creative writing will not.

It took me about four years to realize that this is a problem. I'm sure everyone with loving and demanding parents go through this in some way shape or form.

But sometimes I wish I could sit down and read or write and not feel so extremely guilty.

BookMooch

2006-12-10T11:10:00.000-05:00

I've joined BookMooch, which is a fun little website, if you have books that you no longer want. BookMooch is an book swapping website, where you send your books to other people, and get ones you want in return. Great if you don't want to go to the hassle of selling the books that you no longer want. I personally like BookMooch better than some of the other websites, because they happen to have more of the books that I would want to read. Check it out.

Circle of Poverty

2006-12-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

Way to point the finger, assholes.

"Birth Rate 'Harms Poverty Goals'"

Random Mumblings - Love Actually, and violence towards my mail

2006-12-08T10:18:00.000-05:00

The holidays always makes me think of Love Actually, one of only a couple of movies geared towards women that my cynical little head will allow me to watch without quipping "yeah right", or "like hell", every two minutes or so.

It's not that the movie reflects reality better than others in its genre----unless men and women are just made completely differently over in England. But it's got enough quirkiness, a good soundtrack, and a certain awareness of its own fantasy that makes it much more bearable than other 'chick flicks'. And let's face it, Closer, which reflects quite accurately how love actually works (at least some of the time), just doesn't give you the same warm and fuzzy feeling.

Love Actually is a beautiful movie to watch because it's pure make-believe, something we need to indulge in once in a while, especially around the holidays. Like the holidays, its a break from the world we live in, into the world that we would like to live in.

On a completely different note, I don't know if the postal people are just a lot busier around the holidays (or a lot grumpier), but every package I have ordered thus far has come to me completely smashed in on one side. I haven't thought much about this until this morning when I received a book in an thick envelope that was completely ripped open on one side. It seems to me that a lot would have to happen 'accidentally' for it to arrive like this. I wonder if someone is playing kick ball with my mail. I don't think I could blame them, the holidays being the way they are. Still making an mental note not to order anything fragile online.

Magic For Beginners

2006-12-07T13:50:00.000-05:00

I'm reading tidbits and excerpts from Kelly Link's Magic For Beginners. Kelly Link writes beautiful short stories that can be described as fantastic in nature---usually mixing elements of myth, magic, and surrealism. Link's first collection of short stories featured several stories that were inspired by fairy tales and myths. Her second collection, while inspired thematically by many of the same things, steps away the reworkings of fairy tale and into her own territory.

"The Faery Handbag", the first story of the collection and winner of Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, tells the story of a girl, her grandmother, and a boy who has vanished. I struggle to put into words a cohesive description of the story because the magic lies in the writing and not in the plot. The voice of the writing, is haunting, wistful, and slightly tense, as the protagonist tries to balance what she knows to be true of her grandmother with reality. It's truly original, and a haunting piece.

Be warned that if you are looking for resolutions or endings in Link's collection, you will be disappointed. As in real life, there are no true resolutions or answers. You are left to imagine of what is to come, what will be, and why.

Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand

2006-12-04T22:06:00.000-05:00

I have just received a review copy of Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog, and I have to say I am enchanted.

Two chapters in, and I am already falling in love with the girl of spirit, and her bewitched house. The last time that a book so entirely delighted me within a couple of paragraphs was when I was in middle school. If you have ever read, The Westing Game, Twenty-One Balloons, or Howl's Moving Castle as a young child, you will understand the kind of delight that I am talking about.

Although Flora Segunda is geared towards a teen audience, you don't have to be a teenager to enjoy it. While I have to wait until I am finished to give this an honest review, I can already say that Ysabeau S. Wilce, the author, has made it onto my list of people to watch. If you have an imaginative child, friend, parent, or significant other, I would highly recommend this as a gift. I'll try to have this review up as soon as I have finished the book.

Waste of Time: The Drawing of The Three

2006-12-01T16:30:00.000-05:00

I have just finished The Drawing of The Three by Stephen King, and I have to confess, I am deeply disappointed. To give brief background, The Dark Tower is Stephen King's dark fantasy series about a knight's quest to the Dark Tower in a world that has moved on. The tale is inspired by Robert Browning's famous poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came". Anyone who is interested in the series should read and study the poem, because it provide clues to what kind of story King is trying to tell. Stephen King claims that the series is his magnum opus.

In The Drawing of The Three, the second of seven novels, Roland, from The Gunslinger, makes preparationgs for his journey to the Dark Tower. While there are only very brief references in The Gunslinger, we are led to believe, that somehow there is a connection between Roland's world and our own. In The Drawing of the Three, we find that the connection is fleshed out. Roland is given three doors, all leading to different times periods in our world, to "draw" his companions for his trip. Much of what happens in the rest of the book takes place in our world.

Now for my reactions. I felt that the book was tediously longwinded. The story can be summed up in a paragraph, but took more than 400 pages to tell. Worst of all, the majority of those pages were not enjoyable reading material.

While King spent an surprising amount of time fleshing out the new characters, I felt that they were not only ill conceived, but less than believable. King's strong point has always been creating interesting and unforgettable characters that are believable as human beings. Without that, many of his horror stories could not have the impact that they do. It's the deeply human quality of his characters that makes you identify and thus fear for them.

From the first pages of The Gunslinger, Roland struck me as the sort of character---maybe a little cliched, a tad less than original---but a well-fleshed out archetype of the western hero. He is believable and intriguing. One can not say the same for his sidekicks in The Drawing of Three. Eddie and Odetta bored me. Much of what is said about the two felt contrived, from Eddie's heroism, to the love that is conviniently blossoming between the two, everything King does with the two seem forced rather than inspired.

The problem was that the whole book feels forced. And what needed to be told cover to cover, should have only taken a couple of chapters, not an entire book. Much is wasted on needlessly long action sequences, time jumps, and tedious backstory. It did not help that King's language in the book irked me. The gunslinger is this, Eddie is that. Odetta knew this. No showing, and a whole lot of telling that seemed too convinient.

For now, I'm not sure I care what happens to Roland, Eddie and Odetta. It's really Roland's history, his world and his purposes for the journey that intrigue me. But I am not sure I could survive another tedious book in the same vein to get to those things. That's the problem with planning of series of books to tell a story. You end up adding too much fluff and the story suffers.

The Best Place To Read

2006-11-30T09:18:00.000-05:00

It's interesting to note, that for me, reading is a solitary activity. I like to either do it alone, or in a bookstore or library among strangers. Because if you put me in a room with someone I know, I just can't concentrate. It's almost as if I can't faze out the world enough because somewhere in the back of my head, I keep reminding myself that I should be socializing. Maybe it's an only child thing.

For me the best way to read is on a train while traveling somewhere. It's wonderful to glance up and observe the changing scenery while contemplating the words on the page. Of course noise-cancelling headphones are crucial, since otherwise you will have to spend most of your time blocking out some whiny person who can't seem to break contact with their cellphone or understand the social ettiquete of using a lower register. Still if you have never experienced reading on a train while traveling, I would highly recommend it. I think my perfect vacation would include traveling around Europe in a train with a couple of good books. . . Nice thoughts to have when I'm stuck in my office in Philadelphia.

Thanksgiving in the Boondocks

2006-11-28T13:53:00.000-05:00

Coming back from a Thanksgiving in the quiet hills of West Virginia to work and Philly is a depressing experience. There is something theraputic about spending time surrounded by woods, hills, leaves and fuzzy animals.

I had no television, no internet, and spent all my free time reading Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield.

Even my cat seems slightly deflated after 3 days spent romping outside in glorious fall weather. The look she gave me last night after we arrived back in Philly was heartbreaking. Resentment from a pet is hard to take.

Oh well, it was a wonderful holiday and at least I have Christmas to look forward to. This year I resolve to spend more time reading and drinking hot chocolate and playing with the cat. Here's to simple pleasures. =^-^=

Guilt and the Holidays

2006-11-19T08:59:00.000-05:00

The problem with being an obsessive bibliophile is that around the holidays, most people decide that the perfect gift for you is a book. This is true.

The problematic aspect of this however, is that for someone who has acquired over 200 books in the last couple of months, and who's only likely to treat herself to more around the holidays, the unread pile is beginning to resemble what I would like to call a guilt-monster (imagine a 12-ft pile of books that taunts you and you'd be on the right track).

I find myself slinking past my bookshelf, averting the accusing stares that I imagine emanating from my books. Lately, they've resorted to muttering criticisms while I sleep in an effort to lower my self-esteem.

It's not the best of relationships.

The only way to resolve the problem is to diminish the pile as soon as possible. Of course now that I am an 'adult'--- and I use the word in the loosest sense possible, I have obligations around the holidays that stand in direct conflict of my goals.

I wonder how well "please stop bothering me, I must vanquish the book monster before it casts its hate-rays once more in my direction" would go down with the family?

Probably not as well as I'd imagine. . .

Happy Holidays.

Sailing the Seven Seas...

2006-11-14T16:04:00.000-05:00

Thinking of cutting my hair and becoming a pirate since this work thing is vastly overrated...

Aio and The Summer Isles

2006-11-14T13:28:00.000-05:00

Work, politics, and a slight obsession with trying to cook our meals instead of ordering out has taken over my life in the past two weeks. Trying to find a solid hour to curl up with book has been difficult. Still hopefully by the end of the weekend I will be able to put out a new review.

I'm currently reading The Summer Isles by Ian R. Macleod, published by a brilliant small press called Aio Publishing Company. The press, still in its infacy, produces beautiful, often collectible editions of fantastic fiction with an emphasis on quality and the personal charm of a small and friendly press, at an incredibly reasonable price.

The publsher/editor, Tiffany Jonas, is a lovely woman who's enthusiasm and dedication to her press is impressive in an age of depersonalized transactions between merchant and customer.

When I ordered my copy of The Summer Isles, she responded quickly with a warm personalized e-mail of welcome. From the looks of the feedback of customers on the website, Aio and Tiffany are dedicated to providing the highest level of topnotch, individualized service that an merchant can provide to a customer over the internet.

The book itself, a limited collector's edition signed by the author, is beautiful to behold. It comes bound in faux leather and suede (they're animal friendly, a big bonus for me) with acid neutral paper and has won awards for the design. I have yet to get to the meat of the book, but the writing and the premise has me waiting in anticipation.

I will be posting a review for The Summer Isles hopefully next week. It'll go up on Blogcritics.org and then here. In the meantime, if you are a bibliophile or a lover of good fiction, go check out Aio!

You can also find excellent reviews for The Summer Isles and Aio here, here, and here.

Allen has Conceded!!!

2006-11-09T16:12:00.000-05:00

I think its time to break out the bubbly. . . or the hard liquor. Whatever your drink of choice, break it out and celebrate.

Feeling officially lukewarm about Lost

2006-11-02T13:22:00.000-05:00

*Spoilers about Cost of Living, last night's episode, so don't read if you haven't seen it*

Feeling as if Lost jumped the shark last night. I just don't plain care too much for the stupid reveals, and flimsy backstories anymore. Eko death felt meaningless and done more for practical business reasons then anything else. And the two new characters that they brought in to be killed later on are so annoying, that I'm wishing that they get murdered before we get to their backstories. No such luck I'm sure.

Fictional Eagle Dedication

2006-11-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

I dedicate my blog today to two fictional eagles…yes you heard right, two eagles:

Bermuda Ern of Breakfast of Champions, and the giant eagle that had a penchant for Dirk Gently’s nose/attention in The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.

Without the two of you, life would just be that much duller. Cheers.

My Life As A Fake - Peter Carey

2006-10-31T15:09:00.000-05:00

I'm reading Peter Carey's My Life as a Fake. For anyone who does not know, Peter Carey is the famous Australian writer who wrote Booker Prize winners , Oscar and Lucinda, and True History of the Kelly Gang. He along with J. M. Coetze are the only two authors to have won the Booker on two seperate occasions.

My Life as a Fake is a fictional account of an actual literary hoax that took place in 1944 in Australia. Wikipedia.org gives an excellent account of the Malley hoax. I have only briefly dipped into the book, so will report back with impressions in the upcoming days.

50 Book Challenge

2006-10-31T11:39:00.000-05:00

Apparently on Livejournal and various other sites, there's this 50book Challenge thing going on where the basic premise is to read 50 books and blog about them.

Well since I have been reading an awful lot lately I thought that I could play this game and document everything I read. I've tried to only count books that I've finished since May. So here's what I can remember, in no particular order.

Later on I'll probably list them 5 or 10 at a time, with some quick summarizations of what I thought. Sry this is pretty boring, its really for me to keep track.

*I gave asterisks to those books that I would highly recommend

Finished
1. Magic Toyshop - Angela Carter
2. On Beauty - Zadie Smith*
3. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
4. Viriconium - M. John Harrison*
5. Complicity - Iain Banks
6. Looking to Windward - Iain M. Banks
7. Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks*
8. The Baby Merchant - Kit Reed
9. Etched City - K.J. Bishop*
10. The Chess Garden - Brooks Hansen*
11. Shriek - Jeff Vandermeer*
12. Chronicles of Chrestomanci Vol. 1 - Diana Wynne Jones
13. Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
14. Fuzzy Dice - Paul Di Filippo
15. Tumbling After - Paul Witcover
16. Gun, With Occasional Music - Jonanthan Lethem
17. Hidden Camera - Zoran Zivkovic
18. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
19. Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
20. Anne of Avonlea - Lucy Maud Montgomery
21. Turn of the Screw - Henry James
22. The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman*
23. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro*
24. Light - M. John Harrison*
25. The Stormwatcher - Graham Joyce
26. Vile Bodies - Evelyn Waugh
27. Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Wolfe
28. The Summer Isles - Ian R. MacLeod
29. The Drawing of The Three - Stephen King
30. Flora Segunda - Ysabeau S. Wilce*
31. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - Philip K. Dick

Unfinished
1. Things That Never Happen* (my favorite short story collection) - M. John Harrison
2. Course of the Heart - M. John Harrison
3. Alabaster* (short story collection) - Caitlin Kiernan
4. Empire of Ice Cream* (short story collection) - Jeff Ford
5. Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (short story collection) - Greg Frost
6. The Bloody Chamber (short story collection) - Angela Carter
7. The Last Witchfinder - James Morrow
8. The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
9. Looking For Jake* (short story collection) - China Mieville
10. Magic For Beginners* - Kelly Link
11. Un Lun Dun - China Mieville

Discarded for Now (things that I just couldn't finish)

1. Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - David Eggers

I explained in a previous post why I just couldn't read this, one of those things that I may never pick up unless there's nothing left in the house to read.

2. We Were The Mulvaneys - Joyce Carol Oates
Classic Oates, which is why I don't really care to finish it after 60 or so pages in. Don't get me wrong I appreciate her stuff...maybe it's because I've read too many novels about the breakdown of the family?

3. Threshold - Caitilin Kiernan
Picked this up because I was loving Alabaster, and wanted to read more about the fascinating character that is Dancy Flammarion. However, I think the author has come a long way from the writing of this novel. After several tries, I still found it incredibly hard to concentrate everytime I picked up this novel.

End of The Year Movies

2006-10-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

The end of this year looks surprisingly promising when it come to movies that I would actually shell out 11 bucks to see. The Fountain, Stranger Than Fiction, and now Children of Men.
Two of these are science fiction/fantasy, and the other is a pic about metafiction. It's good to note that Hollywood has caught on to the fact that controlled experimentation is not a bad thing.

Hopefully at least one of these will be as satisfying to watch as The Prestige.

Btw if A History of Violence did not exist as a film, the world would be a finer place. David and I finally sat down to watch this crap of a movie. What a waste of time and money. The wretched self-indulgent direction, meandering and unbelievable plot, and laughable acting by some of the supporting actors make this the most overrated movie I've seen this year.

And as annoying as Dakota Fanning is to my general sensibilities, I have to now conceed that I would still rather have her as the child in every goddamn movie, then to see another little girl botch it up so badly that for the rest of the movie, I have a hard time pretending that they aren't actors on a set.

And the sex scenes...don't even get me started on how hard we laughed when the director explained how necessary the gangster sex scene was to the plot.

Oh and was anyone slightly skeptical of the b-budget scenes of Viggo in the Philly mansion? Bigshot mobster tries to kill unarmed brother but fails because conveniently for Viggo he's only asked 3 or 4 other goons to be on his estate. The fact that this film was nominated for ANYTHING is a sign that our awards system is decided by a bunch of pretentious, self-congratulating dolts who stand around nibbling things that our Neanderthal ancestors wouldn't touch with an end of stick and debating whether the cup of shit that they have been invited to look at is “art” or just aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Book Group Review - Complicity by Iain Banks

2006-10-27T12:25:00.000-04:00

Complicity is a novel that can be read on two different levels; as a mystery, and as political and social commentary on the Thatcher years. I was somewhat disappointment by the book, because I felt the structure, plot, and narrative of the book was a poor vehicle for the central idea. The novel’s lack of subtlety and control makes one feel bludgeoned over the head with the idealogy behind it.

However to be fair, Complicity still reads as a competent mystery novel, and proves to be stylistically interesting. The choice of using a second person narrative proved to work effectively since it makes the reader complicit in the act of the killing. I felt slightly uncomfortable during those scenes which surprised me because I have read enough thrillers to usually feel desensitized to the violence.

Additionally, I found the last scenes of the book to be memorable as Banks gives us his bleak, nihilistic view of our world. The first to second person switch also makes us aware that while Cameron feels disgusted with his friend’s actions, he nonetheless agrees with the motives and point behind them. Unfortunately I do not have enough expertise on the political environment of the UK during the 80s and early 90s to grasp the finer points of his views, but am highly interested in everyone’s opinions on the political commentary found in Complicity.

To me, the most disappointing thing is that comparatively I know Banks as a far superior author than what he shows in Complicity. Gerald Houghton summarized it best when he reviews the book by stating:

Too often of late Banks seems unable to do justice to his ideas, the intelligence and sophisticated plotting of books like Walking On Glass or the aforementioned The Wasp Factory giving way to a breakneck jokiness that although entertaining enough in itself comes off as lightweight and lazy from the man capable of writing books as driven and purposeful as The Bridge or The Player Of Games.

Iain Banks, is a far better novelist than Complicity would suggest. I highly recommend some of the reading mentioned above especially The Bridge, The Player of Games or Use of Weapons before you write him off.

Musings on The Prestige

2006-10-27T08:45:00.000-04:00

You can also find this article here.
WARNING: I would advise anyone who has not watched the movie to do so before reading this review. While I do not give away any major spoilers, there is enough to spoil it for those who have not seen the movie.

I read The Prestige by Christopher Priest when I was a freshman in college. I remember how much I was in love with the book for the first hundred or so pages. How beautifully Priest paved the plot with layers of historical facts, magic, and mystery. It was a brilliant premise, and promised an equally brilliant resolution. It was one of those books that you hope and pray will live up to its own expectations.

Sadly, in this case, it was not to be. Halfway through, I had begun to feel that Priest was writing himself into a box. The Prestige, I felt, was a story that could never have lived up to the promise of its set-up because no one could write a conclusion to match the initial brilliance of the tale.
I stand corrected five years later. Jonathan Nolan, brother of Christopher Nolan the director, has managed to turn the weakest element of the novel - its meandering, anti-climactic plot - into The Prestige’s crowning achievement.

It was fascinating for me, someone who had read The Prestige so long ago, to watch the film for the first time. I went to the theatre with a certain lack of enthusiasm, remembering only vaguely the details of the plot but clearly the strong feeling of disappointment in the conclusion of the book. I also doubted my ability to be truly enthralled by the movie since like other movies such as The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense, it seemed The Prestige would depend on what the promos had touted to be its twist ending, which had already been revealed to me by the book.

The reason that propelled me to the movie theatre was a sense of curiosity; I wanted to see what Jonathan and Christopher Nolan could do in their adaptation. After all, the premise was wonderful, the cast was designed to bring in the big bucks — it was only left to be seen whether the plot would take the disappointing turn for the worst as the book had done. Let’s just say that it’s nice to be surprised by a movie. Jonathan Nolan has managed to create a work that can only be described as a loose translation of Priest’s original. The plot has been fine-tuned to play with a level of perfection that was unknown to the novel.

It also didn’t matter that I knew the twists of the movie. In fact, to the observant viewer, Angier’s (Hugh Jackman) secret is revealed early on as he stands in the field of top hats. It dawned on me as I walked out of the theatre elated that the secret to The Prestige, as it was with Memento, (the Nolan brothers' masterpiece to date) is that the while the twist ending is fantastic or exceedingly weird (depending on your tastes), it does not make or break the movie. To use a cliché, the ending is the icing on an exquisitely crafted cake, something that will be apparent on repeated viewings as the viewer’s attention is less focused on what is to come and more on how the magicians got there. Here lies the genius of the Nolan brothers; their path to the ending is littered with subtle hints about both men’s secrets and the sacrifices that are inherent with keeping those secrets.

Therein also lies the emotional impact of the story, something that I am disappointed but not surprised that many critics did not pick up on. You have to be aware of the ending to truly appreciate Borden’s (Christian Bale) apology to Fallon - “Sorry about Sara” - as he is dragged away to be hanged. You have to be aware of the ending to understand the deranged, sacrificial nature of Angier’s triumphant last act in the machine that Tesla makes for him. To sum it up, you have to watch the movie twice to truly see the brilliance of what Jonathan and Christopher Nolan have created.

On a side and purely personal note, if Jonathan Nolan does not win the Oscar for this brilliantly scripted adaptation of the novel, I swear I will never watch the Oscars again.

There remains only one argument to make: The Prestige, both the book and the movie, at the very crux is about obsession. I’m slightly puzzled by those reviewers who have complained that the characters are cold, one-dimensional, and are solely defined by their obsessions. I mean after all, isn’t that the whole point of the movie? It seems to be wish-fulfillment rather than critical evaluation to want warmer, multidimensional characters. It is also an evaluation from those who have only seen the movie once, because I believe the dimensions of Jackman's and Bale’s characters are more apparent in subsequent viewings.

But even if this were not the case, would The Prestige have been a better movie if either man showed other interests or had more love to give to the women in their lives? Yes, if film was a love story or a simple period piece. No, if it is to remain a story of obsession. After all, Angier and Borden are defined by their obsession — they are essentially not the characters that they are without their obsessions. For them to be multi-dimensional (as the reviewers want them) would be superfluous to the movie.Certainly, the characters would have been more likeable if we saw a warmer side, or if they didn’t treat the women they loved badly, or if they sought redemption at the end. But the end goal was not to make the viewer like the characters. It was Nolan’s intention to show you a movie about the destruction of two men by the shared obsession that defines them.

They have to be one-dimensional — obsessed, if you will. Because the question that should be asked is would either one have gone so far if they weren’t exactly like how they were portrayed? Would we have reached the horrific realizations that we do at the end, if the characters were not hell-bent single-mindedly obsessed with destroying each other? The characters as they are shown define the plot. Without these cold, obsessed men, there would be no Prestige. And I think that the Nolans did a damn good job showing the viewer just that.