Ender's game is fun and I am old

I had a rollicking weekend full of family and travel, so let's see if I can even remember Ender's Game, which I read last week for book club:


Little kid is chosen to save the world. Get's taken away from his family and sent to a training facility where the students/soldiers are divided into teams/units. He makes friends and enemies and sacrifices. He saves the world.

So basically: Harry Potter with video games. Only Ender was WAY before Potter so Potter is Ender but with wands and brooms.

I'm having a little bit of trouble getting excited about Ender right now, but I think that has more to do with TIRED and OLD and LIFE-HANGOVER than it does with Ender.

Because Ender has war games and bug alien things and mean kids and strategy and plans within plans and space travel and life lessons and and psychological insights and unfairness and suiting up and murder cover ups.

Basically, it's awesome.

"Sometimes lies are more dependable than the truth."
Orson Scott Card

Teachers who don't teach book club...pretty pictures edition

Book club hasn't tackled a graphic offering...until now. We read Shaun Tan's Tales From Outer Suburbia, a collection of out-there short stories.

While reading it, I thought it was fine. The stories were OK. The pictures were pretty. But it didn't stay with me. Until I started to talk about it.

We started with the poetry story, which is a poem itself. The idea being that all the poetry people write and throw away or hide gets collected in a big ball rolling around full of thoughts and feelings. We said you could use the story as an intro into writing poetry. What is poetry for? Who is it for? How do you really "do" poetry? This is one way:


Then there was the story of the exchange student who left quickly without the host family knowing if he enjoyed his time...until they found this:


And my favorite illustration, of a boy lying in the indentation a whale (yes, whale) made in his front lawn:


Turns out, even though I don't have words to quote, the stories, the images, and the feeling are still with me.

Next on the list is classic science fiction: Ender's Game.

"Pictures must not be too picturesque."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Book club is suffocating my reading

Book club is tomorrow. I've once again procrastinated reading the selection, except this time it isn't the library's fault.

It's mine. And it isn't for lack of trying.

Going Bovine is the trippy and amusing tale of a boy who gets Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and has to save the world from Dr. X (who is also the only person who can cure his disease).

It is 480 pages long. I've been trying to read it for a week and I've just now made it to page 250.

I feel like a high school student. I'm sitting in the back of the class thinking this book is lame and what does it have to do with me and why aren't there Cliffs Notes on it and do we think Chris likes me?

Only I'm also a teacher, so now I feel guilty. I have a need to be prepared for book club. But I'm not having fun. And I don't understand why.

In the book, the protagonist just got picked up by some happiness junkies who have created a Utopian community dedicated to happiness and they say hilarious things like: "Don't hurt your happiness."

So the writing is fine. And, after reading the acknowledgment section, I was convinced I AM Libba Bray.

And the plot is fine. There's even a punk rock angel. And allusions to Don Quixote. And garden gnomes who talk. And jazz musicians. And fire demons.

So why the ennui?

I guess I have 230 pages to answer that question.

"I'm just saying it's not all windmills and ninjas."
Libba Bray

Teachers who don't teach book club...little women edition

Over the last few sessions, our book club has run into a conundrum: do we dislike some YA books because they aren't good or because we are too far away from the target demographic (aka OLD)?

And so, in honor of the the end of winter (and our childhoods), we read Little Women.

Full of seasonal changes, our book club has been adding members. Face and Ams rallied and spent all weekend listening to LW being read aloud. Literary bonding makes me smile.

I went away for the weekend and grabbed my copy of LW from 4th grade on my way out. Upon returning to Chicago, I video chatted Face and Ams (FAMES) because...BETH DIDN'T DIE in my book, and my book only spanned one year.

How was that possible?

After much confusion, we realized my little kid edition separated Little Women and Good Wives into two separate books whereas new editions smash them together in about 500 pages. And so, I embarked upon a 2 day, 300 page marathon finishing 2 minutes before leaving for book club and endless fish and chips...

Where I got to hear Face's philosophy that the plot is actually driven by the men of the story. He stands by it:


I almost like the book(s) more as an adult. As a child, I loved the story and feistiness of Jo. As an adult I was all: whoa, hello road map to becoming an adult.

With any book that people enjoy, the characters, themes, and plot get inserted into conversations. And so we chomped away on fish and chips and someone would chime in: that's so Laurie, you're such a Jo, at least you can make jam, or oh, the professor.

I've concluded that I can still project myself back to being young(er) because Little Women (and Good Wives) maintain their hold on my heart.

"The best of us have a spice of perversity in us, especially when we are young and in love."
Louisa May Alcott

Neverwhere

Sometimes, it seems, I'm not on the same page as everyone else.

I've just read Neverwhere, a fantastical tale of lower -and upper - London and a man who gets sucked into the world because of chivalry. After hiding a girl whose family has just been assassinated, he starts to fade away from upper London (like someone rents his flat out fading away), so he proceeds to tromp around the sewers with the girl and her bodyguard and a sketchy liar guy in the hopes of 1. finding the killers and 2. getting his life back. There are also rats and bird messages and an angel and magical tube stops, oh and the girl can open doors...any doors.

Overall, it was an amazing ride which caused me to inhale the book in two sittings and then look around for more Neil Gaiman.

However, there was one problem. It took me most of the book to see the clock tower on the cover:


You know what I was seeing? The torso of a woman in a Victorian dress. Which was super confusing as it doesn't complement the plot at all. Can you see it?:


Yes? No? Am I crazy? If you still don't see it:

"Mind the gap!"

Neverwhere

Zombies vs. Unicorns

Team Edward and team whatever the werewolf guy's name is...is so last year.Now it is time for a real debate. Zombies or unicorns? And specifically, which is better for use in storytelling?

Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (both YA authors) facilitate a literary battle royale. Before each essay they talk snark from their respective corners.

Of the 12, my favorite stories were:

Alaya Dawn Johnson's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in which a zombie falls in love with a living boy.

Naomi Novik's "Purity Test" which hilariously plays with the role of virginity in unicorn lore. Oh, and baby unicorns. Adorable.

Carrie Ryan's "Bougainvillea" in which the zombie masses have taken over and a small group of people flee to an island to hideout. I love this one for the hardcore heroine.

Meg Cabot's "Princess Prettypants" which, yes, the name is awful, but the story is awesome. Imagine My Little Pony comes to life, only this one hoists bullies into the air by their swim trunks.

The other stories are great too. Topics include: prom during a zombie invasion, bestiality (I said it) unicorn style, celebrities who adopt zombie babies, baby killer unicorns, zombies who just want to stop being bored, etc.

So am I team zombie or team unicorn? Usually, I definitely sway towards the mystical in literature, but this anthology has shown me the true range of the zombie. So I think zombies who love and zombies who forgo eating for love and zombies who just want to have some fun beat out a unicorn's death whinny.

I started a unicorn and ended a zombie.

Graphic digest

I'm perpetually on the lookout for the next great graphic novel. Here are my thoughts on what I've read lately...

Rapunzel's Revenge - At first, this graphic interpretation of Rapunzel for elementary aged kids got me pumped. Rapunzel is feisty and saves herself. She also uses her hair (in braids) as both tool and weapon. But then it turned into a cycle of travel (to free her mother), scuffles, and Rapunzel getting herself and her traveling partner (Jack, once again of the beanstalk variety) out of trouble. It was really close to being amazing.

Skim - I. Love. This. Graphic. Novel. I find the majority of graphic novels deal with dark subject matter. Skim doesn't shy away from the shadows delving into teen suicide but also coming of age and homosexuality. The feeling of the novel is stark, but not depressing. The words and images support the stoic sentiment.

Chance in Hell - With this title, I don't know why I thought I might like this one. Set in a dystopic future, society throws out not only its unwanted garbage, but also its unwanted children. We follow a promising young girl who is saved from creepy men by another man (who used to live in the garbage). Only girlfriend befriends a local pimp and starts to learn the ropes. When it turns out that the man is going to the prostitutes the girl is now managing, she kills him. Oh and then fast forward to her being an adult and getting married but then all of her people get killed by some serial killer and she is left alone. Do not read this one.

The Living and the Dead - This one was mainly pictures with few words. Who needs words when an axe to the head speaks for itself? A man falls in love with a prostitute. Then saves his money to...buy her? But then...zombies. Attack. Guy saves prostitute. Prostitute gets turned into a zombie. Prostitute turns man into zombie. They fall in love. Oh, and insert a bunch of zombie violence. This one is obviously trying to disprove my zombies-make-everything-better theory.

Emiko Superstar - Emiko is written by the same author as Skim. I liked this one, but not as much. Still a coming of age work, this one concentrating on experimentation with risk taking behavior. There is also a weird part of the main character babysitting for a perfect seeming couple where the wife is actually a lesbian and runs away but not before the main character steals her diary and uses it as performance fodder so she can be cool.

Retreat & The Long Way Home (Buffy) - I don't expect everyone to understand - or be down with - my love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What can I say, truth telling through witty snark makes me happy. Whedon's post final season comic series gives a chance to hang out with the characters a little while longer. I truly enjoy them and am slowly adding them to my personal library.

Skim - Mariko Tamaki

Teachers who don't teach book club...manipulative man edition

At book club last night, we discussed the problem of perspective. While reading YAL it is often difficult to take myself out of my shoes and put myself into my future students' shoes because I'm busy being all why-doesn't-she-dump-him-he-just-told-her-to-shut-up-man-she-is-spoiled-and precocious-in-a-bad-way-and-it-must-be-nice-to-be-so-rich.

At many points during Nancy Werlin's Extraordinary I rolled my eyes and maybe also proclaimed disbelief of shenanigans. However, I realize that while I may have been almost as sassy as a teen as I am now, not everyone intrinsically realizes their own extraordinary-ness.

I say that with trepidation because this book beat the idea of ordinary vs. extraordinary over the reader's head about a gazillion times. That's a rough estimate.

Like any Lifetime movie, it obviously takes almost all of the book for us to come to the conclusion that everyone has the potential to be extraordinary.

Puke.

But I get it. I needed to hear that when I was a teen. And I did. The madre told me all the time.

But maybe not everyone has someone to tell them. And maybe if they read this book that couches real (if exaggerated) life situations in terms of faeries and metaphors then they could see their own special-ness.

And that's not a bad thing.

Favorite part of the book: Good parents. So much of literature deals with working out daddy or mommy issues. I know the madre will be relieved to hear that at least this book depicted supportive, unconditional loving, strong parental figures.

We then decided our book club is definitely skewing towards all things fantastical and perhaps our trajectory needs to be altered. One more dystopic novel and then we'll move on to nonfiction!

We are also toying with revisiting favorites from our own teen years. So reader, what did YOU read in high school that you loved?

"Nothing that happened in the past could be taken away."
Nancy Werlin

Teachers who don't teach book club...fairy tale edition

Remember the big bad wolf who bothered little red riding hood and her grandmother?

What if the big bad wolf was your dad?


And what if you lived in a dystopia where there used to be fairies who made dreams come true, but now fairies and dreams are gone?

And then what if you have to infiltrate the synthetic fairy dust drug running operation your dad was a part of Fast and Furious style to clear his name?

And what if Eden was a real place that you could see, but weren't allowed in?

And what if the good friend you made in juvie was Jack, of the beanstalk Jacks?

Not to mention a scary creature down in the depths of the city who wants to chomp you who might be a metaphor for societal ills but is also - in real life - going to chomp you.

Oh and don't forget the falling in love part. Wolf love. With a female wolf who asks you how many times she is going to have to save you.

And a feisty female detective who loves a fight.

I'd say it would all make for a rollicking ride of a book.

*My only caution is a brief 2-3 (I'm not sure as I had to cover my eyes and flip pages) TORTURE section which I couldn't handle and left me wondering: was that really necessary?

For dealing in fairy tales, the book was entirely modern and chalk full of modern societal issues like drugs and corruption. There are some problematic logistics in the book, such as: if the different species in the book are a metaphor for our society...who are the wolves? And what is that insinuating? Not to mention, if you can see Eden, but can't get to it (we imagined a floating island in the sky??), how did they pop into Eden by accident through a tunnel system when the societal ills monster was chasing them? CONFUSED.

Book club got off track after that with discussions of other books and teacher talk and CPS talk and why doesn't our waiter understand what can we split the bill means talk and then it was time for bed.

Until next time.

"Nobody knows the real story, because nobody ever heard my side of the story."
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Teachers who don't teach book club...merlin edition

This book club we read The Lost Years of Merlin - by T.A. Barron - which chronicles Merlin's magical youth.

This book was: FUN.

Even though it was definitely meant for a younger audience (4-8th grade), that doesn't mean I didn't have a great time reading it. Sure, there were shenanigans like ummm, Merlin: when you go on a sea voyage...take water! Also, as an adult reading it, the plot trajectory was quite apparent. Even then, I still wanted to read to confirm.

This book was delightful and could easily be used as supplemental reading during a mythology unit.

The best part of the book, though, deals with perception. In our world, we name the stars and gather constellations and their stories. In the place Merlin was born, however, they make "constellations" out of the space between stars, the black space.

Did that just rock your mind?

This example lets the book begin a discussion of broadening worldviews and accepting (and welcoming) difference.

Luckily, there are two subsequent books in the series. I'll definitely be including the series in my classroom library.

"Nothing like a good read to finish off a day of good reads."
T.A. Barron

In a dark dark room...creak...crash...boo!

Dear Future Claire:

Please do not sign up for volunteer activities after a full day of work, even if they are about books. You will be tired, cranky, and - most of all - hungry. When you leave the activity you will be happy you helped someone, but sad that it is dark. Also, going forward, please only sign up for opportunities with group leaders who actually help with the work as opposed to reading in a chair while you risk your fingers to paper cuts and your back to soreness.

Thanks so much,
Right Now Claire

Last night I rocked my Dewey Decimal skills and volunteered (through Chicago Cares) to re-stack an elementary school library.

The silver lining from last night - obviously - has to do with books. Re-shelving an elementary library is like walking down book memory lane. It is filled with ooo's (R.L. Stine), ahh's (Laura Ingalls Wilder) and aww's (Shel Silverstein).

Fortuitously, the absolute LAST book I shelved brought to the surface forgotten memories.

The book, In a Dark, Dark Room, is a collection of scary folklore tales. Looking at the cover, at first I only recognized the girl with the green ribbon (ooo). Then it all came flooding back. The suspenseful wide-eyed reading. I loved this book. I used to read the stories over and over again.

When I got home I couldn't wait to tell the madre what I had discovered. It was like Mousehaven Manor all over again!

But just like with Mousehaven, when I excitedly told the madre about Dark Room, she said, "Huh, I don't remember that one."

Oh reading, you can be such a solitary touchstone.

"Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled 'This could change your life'."
Helen Exley

From the stacks...September edition

I'm beginning to think my new neighborhood neighbor, Carls, and I are clones.

The other day, post hair appointment date with Ams, I ran into Carls randomly on the street.

Last night, I went to forage at the library and who did I find filling out a card application...but Carls.

This means she witnessed me at the library. Which means she saw me filling my arms with books on CD for nighttime listening, on hold books, and our state-certified-people-who-aren't-doing-what-they're-certified-in-not-by-choice book club selection (The House of the Scorpion...ooo), and then attempting to cram them all in my purse...

Since we are clones it means she won't judge, right?

Anyways, remember how I was all excited to read The Passage (vampire sci-fi, not sea voyage)? Well, the madre read it (first, like usual) and while she was pumped at the beginning, with 200 pages left it became underwhelming.

I feel her pain because that is how I'm feeling about The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. At first I was on the fence because I didn't like any of the characters and some of them gave me misogynistic Rabbit, Run flashbacks. But then the realness (if dislike) of the characters kept me reading. But now, with 100 pages left, I find myself skimming and only really reading what interests me every so often. And I find that I'm not missing much. This might mean that I won't read Freedom.

However, I have different criteria for books on CD (mainly that the voice lulls me to sleep), so I picked up The Passage on CD...29 CD's to be precise.

No worries on the massive book front as I still picked up a gigantic book: a collection of one of Doris Lessing's science fiction series. I am usually anti giant collection tomes that will take me months to get through when I could simply get the separate books, but the dangerous pull of having everything in one place was so tempting...so we will see how it goes.

"We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth."
John Lubbock

Real or not real?

Hunger Games. It's the new Twilight, only you can respect the female lead.

And yes, there is still a love triangle.

The third, and final, book came out last week. I will discuss ranging from non-spoily to super spoily. Stop when you need to.

NON-SPOILY

The Hunger Games trilogy is a dystopian (my favorite) tale which takes place in the none too distant future (but distant enough for us to have super messed up the world...more than we have already). The Capitol is in charge of 12 compartmentalized districts (there used to be 13 but ooo, we don't talk about that). To keep said districts in line, each year the Capitol puts on the hunger games where two adolescents from each district are chosen lottery style to fight each other to the death. Oh, and it's televised and everyone is forced to watch.

Sounds lovely, right?

I read the first book while camping last year. Each new shenanigans thing that came up (fire cape, fire torpedoes, etc) Face and Ams were all...seriously?

But seriously, I couldn't put the book down regardless of their taunts. After finishing the first book, I was angry. Angry that the main character - Katniss - wasn't standing up to 'the man' like I wanted her to. Angry that I probably wouldn't get revolution until the third book.

Having now finished the three books, I'm sated, and thank Suzanne. In the first book we are introduced to the horror of the Hunger Games. In the second we are introduced to horror part II. In the third we are finally introduced to revolution, and all the gray moral areas it comes with.

NOT TOO SPOILY

I appreciate Hunger Games. I like Katniss' feisty and unruly nature. Plus, I love love love dystopias.

I'm glad there were larger issues the text dealt with other than: are you team Peeta or team Gale (first book I was team Gale and by the third, team Peeta).

I loved that in the second book Katniss said IT DOESN'T MATTER if I love Peeta or Gale, I have something bigger to take care of...and then got down to business because "some walks you have to take alone."

I like that the book is cognizant of cliches. I chuckled when another feisty female character explains why she dislikes Katniss: "...you're a little hard to swallow. With all your tacky romantic drama and your defender-of-the-helpless act. Only it isn't an act, which makes you more unbearable. Feel free to take this personally."

The third book made you think. Think about war. Think about death. Think about sacrifice. Think about power. Think about reality versus perception. Think about the lasting effects of war. Think about what lines each of us will cross.

SUPER SPOILY

I love/hated the moment when the new regime comes to power and their first order of business is to conduct a hunger games, but this time with the rich Capitol citizens. And you are all NOOOO, but it is all very French Revolution, and all very will-humans-never-learn. I like the shock when Katniss says yes (WHAT?) to the new games - because she is so distraught at the tragic death of her sister - because it showed her as a flawed character (just like all of us).

I was all OH SNAP when the same technology Gale came up with to kill the enemy ended up killing Katniss' sister. Because that's the point isn't it? In war everyone loses. Everyone. Even if Gale's idea hadn't killed Prim, it would've killed another's sister. Another's son. Another's wife. Another human being.

For the peeps out there who are all what the heck Katniss, why did you end up with Peeta and then have babies, what the heck was that ending...I'd like to give a defense (what? I know.).

Peeta represented the good in Katniss. Peeta was always, from the very beginning, anti-war and anti-death and anti-violence. Peeta saw the big picture. Saw the fruitlessness of war. Gale sought vengeance for unspeakable deeds. And neither of them is wrong. Katniss had parts of each viewpoint within her. Who she ends up with - although I really thought for a minute she would just hang with herself - would come down to which viewpoint she wanted to choose.

There is a part in the third book when Katniss is engulfingly lonely. She kind of makes out with Gale (what what) and he is all nope, not like this, you aren't even in your right mind. She needed someone to take away the darkness.

The end of the book supports that. Peeta is the one who comes back to her and brings her back to life, little by little.

And those kids they have? The represent our most likely doomed, but most necessary hope of a brighter future. They are "...the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again."

"You love me. Real or not real?"
I tell him, "Real."
Suzanne Collins

Nick Hornby

In the last month I have read two offerings of Nick Hornby's. You might say - huh - that name sounds familiar. It should. Hornby wrote both High Fidelity and About a Boy.

First, I read an adult fiction novel about suicide called A Long Way Down. I enjoyed the diary style narration, where we get the insight of each of the four people who wanted to commit suicide but then didn't.

And why didn't they commit suicide? Well, they had to go find some guy at a party. And then some other stuff happened. I don't know if I can vague that up anymore, but the stuff that happens isn't really the point. The interesting part is seeing the changes the characters go through, psychologically, from suicidal to depressed to taking it day by day.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I didn't have an insatiable urge to devour it. It was...nice. A man on the bus chatted me up while I was reading one day and let me know that while Long Way Down was fine, other Hornby books were awesome.

Thank you man on the bus, I think I'll try another.

Which is where my desire to read more Hornby and my expedition of reading more YAL intersected. Enter: Slam, Hornby's young adult book. Slam is about teenage pregnancy.

Here is the thing: I've never been suicidal, so on the one hand part of me couldn't relate to Down; however, I have been a teenager and I have been in the thralls of infatuation. I am predisposed to like Slam.

A story about a teen skater who falls in love and gets his girlfriend pregnant might not read like my own personal history, but reading about the first time you are seriously infatuated? Yes, I do know something about that.

It was smile worthy to reminisce about that younger version of myself. Remembering how I felt the way the character felt. Isn't it lovely how words on a page can make you remember hidden away parts of yourself? How relationships almost always go wrong or doesn't last or gets really messed up, but at the time it was all you could see.

It just rang true. And kept me up Monday night reading until midnight to finish it.

"There are many differences between a baby and an iPod. And one of the biggest is, no one is going to mug you for your baby."
Nick Hornby

Reading like I'm 16 again

We know I read a bunch of Young Adult Literature not only because it is fun, but in order to be a better (and more relevant) teacher. I've read three such works of late.

The Tequila Worm

At fist, I was like meh another coming of age novel broken into snippets for each chapter. However, after reading a few chapters I was struck with the heartfelt nature of the words. The book is about a young (and smart) girl from McAllen, Texas who is very close to her family. She gets an offer to attend a prestigious boarding school in Austin (aka FAR away) on scholarship. What should she do? Is leaving her family the right thing to do? What does she want her life to be like?

I may be biased as I lived in southern Texas, and the whole thing left me nostalgic. But more than that, reading this book made me remember that even at an early age (high school) we are already on the road to the adults we will become.

Amazon tells me it is for readers 5-8, but I think it is for anyone making a big decision in their life.

The Runaways

The Runaways can't be called a graphic novel. It is a straight up comic. In my mind, graphic novels are art and comics are fun. And this was. Imagine a bunch of mutant/alien/super power adults who have formed a yet to be determined if they are good or evil group. They have infiltrated every level of society with informants. Oh, and they sacrificed a person. I think I'm going to vote evil.

Only their kids walked in on the sacrifice. They obviously run away from person killing parents. Oh and guess what - the kids have similar powers to their parents and cool gadgets (including a RAPTOR).

The illustrations were fine, but what was really fun was the storyline where a group of kids ranging from 5th grade to a 17 year old try to figure out who they are, and who their parents are, and who to trust, and oh yeah how to get food for themselves.

The Chocolate War

What's funny is of the bunch, this is supposed to be the "classic" YAL book. I loathe this book. It is only a tiny little thing that should take me an hour to read, but it took me over a month. Because over and over again I was disgusted with it.

It is the usual boys prep school blah blah lots of boys being mean to one boy (which I hate). Only it is really mean. Like Lord of the Flies mean. There is a 'gang' only it is white middle class boys so they are mainly a psychological warfare gang. They hand out 'assignments' to boys in the school who must complete them due to veiled threats.

*SPOILER (but you shouldn't read this book anyways, so it is moot)

There is also this whole chocolate sale thing that one boy (who lost his mother to cancer just a couple months before...come ON) is made to say no to. There are evil teachers who don't mind boys being tortured and team up with the gang. NOT COOL. But then when the assignment is over the boy continues to say no and it ends up with him being beaten up to a gym full of boys who paid to see the spectacle.

Oh and did I forget to mention that the only insertion of females into the plot is a girl they see at the bus stop (they never speak to her) that makes them put their hand down their pants and rub liberally. First I say EW and then I say why is this book a proponent of unhealthy sexual manifestations turning teenage girls in to sexual beings only as opposed to fellow people who should be respected and - I don't know - TALKED TO.

All in all, it is Lord of the Flies without the overarching societal implications.

"There are some themes, some subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children's book."
Philip Pullman

War weekend

Directions for a war weekend:
1. Read Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers.
2. Read The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert
3. Watch the movie W.


I've been perusing in and out of The Photographer mainly because it is quite large and would be awkward on the bus. It is slow going as somehow looking at illustrations and photographs of a war torn country isn't quite my idea of bed time reading.

However, writing about war torn countries apparently qualifies. I stayed up Saturday night reading Fallen Angels (which is actually written for young adults) and woke up early to continue reading through the end.

Myers' writing isn't too gory, even though countless awful things happen. He describes both the "hours of boredom" and "seconds of terror." At the end of the novel you wonder how it is possible that he only spent around five months in Vietnam as even as a reader the experience changed me. Myers truly captures the feeling of being outsides of one's self during war: "We're all dead and just hoping that we come back to life when we get into the World again." Two purple hearts later, Myers did make it back to the World.

I wrapped up my weekend with a viewing of the movie W. Josh Brolin as George Bush was surprisingly convincing. I liked the arc of the movie. As a viewer, you got to see both inside Bush's personal history and inside the war decision room while he was president.

Then I broke my own rules and read The Photographer before bed.

It was all very heavy.

Don't worry, I've now turned to Kerouac's On The Road...

I am still waiting for the genius of it to hit me. It is all very stream of consciousness and I wonder if I was on drugs if I would like it more...or if I was a man...or if I was of the Beat Generation. I'm giving the novel time so I can decide if I agree with Capote who said, "That's not writing, that's typing," or Kerouac scholar (groupie) Theado who said, "The book is both a story and a cultural event."

Stay tuned.

"Rommel, you magnificent bastard...I read your book!"
General Patton

When you choose Antartica over A. S. Byatt, it's time to throw in the towel

Guilt, for many, is a part of reading.

I'm starting a guilt-free reading movement.

I was once like the masses, telling myself I had invested time in this book, I was going to finish it if it was the last thing I did. Only, it probably would literally be the last thing I did because instead of reading I would just stare morosely at it.

I'm here to say: if you aren't feelin' a book, STOP READING IT.

It's OK. The book police won't snatch you up. Promise.

To make you feel better, here is what I've stopped reading lately:


Julie Powell - Julie and Julia
In this case I stretch the definition of reading. I attempted to listen to this book on CD as I couldn't bring myself to read it. My reasoning was that I love books about food (i.e. Kitchen, Little House in the Big Woods, Joy Luck Club). Unfortunately for Julie I couldn't finish even one CD. I have started listening to CD books to lull me off to sleep. Only Julie and Julia sends me into a rage of how such crap gets published and I quickly cut myself off. Interestingly, the book did make me want to go get some fun Julia Child facts for myself, so there's that.

Emma Darwin - A Secret Alchemy
I picked this book up because 1. Emma Darwin is Darwin Darwin's great-great-granddaughter...so that is cool, 2. alchemy is in the title and I find that idea intriguing, 3. the madre just read a book about alchemy, 4. I love books with family trees at the beginning, and 5. I like to try out books I've never heard of.

Unfortunately, this time all of those reasons backfired. I didn't make it past the first few pages. Historical fiction can be amazing, but when it goes wrong, it really goes wrong. I felt the conversations the women were having were putting modern day thought processes into another era. It creeped me, and so I had to stop.

Oh, and P.P.S. to your P.S. cover of the novel, I don't need insights, interviews, and more. I'm not a book club. And if I were a book club I could use my brain, not yours. Thanks

A. S. Byatt - The Children's Novel
I gave Byatt by far the most chance. I read 175 pages of her monolithic book. I'm actually kind of sad to see it go back to the libs as I could have used it as a weapon against intruders. I realize that meandering around is Byatt's 'thing' but SERIOUSLY COULD SHE GET TO THE POINT.

Now, if you are going to read a book that is almost 800 pages, you need to read the crap out of it. It is an investment. I found myself bargaining my reading. Excusing myself for not taking it on the bus because it was so big. Excusing myself for not reading it before I went to sleep because Alice Hoffman's The Third Angel is a nice story to listen to (that's lies, it isn't nice at all, it is awful, but the reader's voice is lovely). Finally, I excused myself from reading when it was next to my hand in favor of finishing an extremely annoying YAL book where an uncle experiments on a daughter, turns her deaf, kills the dad with poison because he was not on board with the daughter experiments, and absconds with the daughter to ANTARTICA because he thinks the Earth is hollow and they will be able to hang out there...

The Children's Book is going back to the libs with the rest of them. Besides, it kept stealing the covers at night.

madre: What's the other story where the dad experiments on the daughter.
me: Rappaccini's Daughter by Hawthorne. THAT was legit-ly awesome.

I read it so you don't have to Twilight edition...FINALE part three

Instead of continuing to complain about Twilight, I've decided to try a different tactic for the last third of the book. I will simply provide a synopsis and let you make your own decisions about the shenanigans...

So Eddie and Bells are in love. As of the end of their 2nd 'date' (the first being him forcing her to eat dinner after he saved her from being raped) they have professed their undying love for each other. Bells is now Eddie's 'life'.

True story.

After professions of love come the meeting of the families. So Bells is chillin' with the 'good' vamps and they are going to go play a familial game of baseball. Only, they have super human power so they have to play during thunderstorms because...wait for it...when they hit the ball it sounds like thunder.

Some 'bad' vamps hear the game and head over. After some posturing they realize a human is with them. Bad vamps want to chomp on Bells and are amused that the good vamps are protective of her. This makes them want to chomp on her more.

This cues red alert time. Bells has to say really mean things to her dad to 1. provide a guise for running away to safety and 2. protect him by leaving. Because Bells is a giver. As you will soon see. Eddie and the 'dad' vamp are going to hunt the bad guy vamp while Bells is whisked away.

All goes well until Bells gets a call. A private call. From the bad vamp saying he has her mom and she has to sneak away and come meet him.

Bells, apparently thinking she is Jack Bauer, thinks this is a good idea. Before flouncing off to her death, she writes Eddie a letter begging him not to avenge her death. You know, cause she is sacrificing herself because we wouldn't want the immortal being to get hurt.

Bells meets up with the bad vamp, realizes he never had her mom and he proceeds to beat the crap out of her. In her childhood dance studio no less. There is NO line this vamp won't cross. Honestly, is nothing sacred?

Good vamps show up and kill bad vamp but OH NO bad vamp has chomped on Bells. Eddie then chomps on Bells to suck out the venom (did I forget to mention that vamps are venomous if they only partly chomps on you?) and oh also get a little bitty taste of Bells.

Bells recovers and proceeds to obsessively try to persuade Eddie to turn her into a vamp. Eddie declines and then tricks her into going to prom. Because even vampires love prom. The book closes on them trading quips about Bells becoming a vampire. Bells is pro. Eddie is con.

...

You can draw your own conclusion, but I will also give you mine. While I think the reading of the Twilight series is fine for teenagers who need something to read, I refuse to believe that any adult with half a brain could possibly shut Twilight and think that was a great story. Unless, of course, they want to live their lives as if they are 13.

Then by all means shut the book and close your eyes as you rest your head on your Eddie pillow.

"He called you pretty. That's practically an insult, the way you look right now. You're much more than beautiful."
Eddie to Bells, prom jealous vamp style

I read it so you don't have to Twilight edition...nicer part two

Pages 119 - 195.

I agree with the lovely Jabba in that I wanted so much to be wrong about Twilight. I wanted to read it and say ahhhh this is what everyone is all in a tizzy about. It allll makes sense now. I am saddened that I can't do that. Truly. Because I want people to read. I want them to enjoy reading. But there is a part of me that wants people to like reading worthy books.

And so, I will start with the positive aspects of Twilight as I see them 195 pages in. I can be nice, you know.

Twilight is a quick read. I don't mean quick simply because of its low reading level. I mean quick in the sense of plot timing. It is all look over here Bells is getting attacked no look over here Bells and Eddie are having dinner together no look over here Bells is manipulating a guy into telling her stuff no look over here Bells is having dreams about Eddie no look over here Bells is having petty school issues with her girlfriends.

So, while the activities might be ridiculous, I appreciate them being developed in quick succession.

The other positive aspect concerns spots of truth. I am one of those people who believes fiction can and quality fiction must reveal truth. I won't pretend there aren't aspects of truth Meyer conveys of adolescent life. I think we all remember being a little bit too enamored with someone we shouldn't have been. Were they a vampire? Probably not, but still.

There are also nice moments in the book. Are they wrapped in throw-up worthy conventions? Well, sure, but you can pick them out none the less.

Example: So apparently Eddie is super attractive and, let's say, influential to everyone he meets. And when I say everyone I mean women. Meyer writes a scene where waitresses are swooning all over the place, Bells is jealous, but Eddie only has eyes for her and doesn't notice. I've personally had that feeling, when someone looks at you and you are the only thing they see. It is nice. So at least if Bells is going to fall for a controlling blood sucker who ditches classes when it's sunny he isn't going to cheat on her.

Finally, I chuckled. I know. Crazy right? When Bells and Eddie are eating dinner, and when I say eating dinner I mean Eddie is creepily watching Bells eat dinner he says, "It's a bit easier to be around you when I'm not thirsty." Come ON. That is funny. It is easier to be around her when he is sated because then he doesn't want to CHOMP ON HER. Love in the making people.

Those are my positives.

I will leave my griping about the portrayal of gender rolls and the completely messed up fact that Eddie stalks Bells and she is flattered by it. Or that she says she isn't hungry he says she is she says she really isn't he says eat and she says OK. Or how Bells is apparently depressed and undercuts herself like ALL THE TIME even though she pretty much always gets what she wants like oh I am so inept at flirting that I just got this guy who I don't even like to divulge ancient family secrets, I'm just little old depressive insufficient me.

I'm not going to touch any of that right now.

"Stupid, unreliable vampire."
Bells

I read it so you don't have to Twilight edition...part one

I'm reading Twilight. I will not let it be said that I don't sacrifice for my love of reading and love of talking about reading. I am not a hypocrite. I will not continue to barrage a book I haven't read. Instead, I will read it to further deepen my arguments and thinking.

Now, before I give you my thoughts on pages 1-118 let me clarify my feelings. I do not hate this book simply because the masses like it. The Twilight series has gotten a lot of anti reading teenage girls reading. That is to be commended. The book makes my toenails curl because adults have hoped on the bandwagon. I want to pull out my hair because it is a mockery of all things awesomely vampire. I want to shout 'I am woman' because this book is so ridiculously patronizing of women. I want to sit down and cry because after all the love I have loved and lost it's the wrong messages about love that are in this book.

It can't be denied that the series is a cultural phenomenon. I just wish culture would latch onto something worthwhile for once.

Sigh.

Anyway, the first 118 pages have opened my eyes to many new things to dislike. Here is a play by play. Proceed at your own risk.

Bella is the new girl in school and within two days she has two guys who are like in love with her. Someone punch me in the face PLEASE. As a girl who has been the new girl in countless schools, you don't get paramours the first two days; you get lunchtime in a bathroom stall. Call me jealous. I guess they never said this book was realistic.

No way. The vampires go to high school. Seriously? What does a vampire want with high school? They go to class. They don't even bite people during passing periods. What kind of messed up vampire novel is this? Where is Buffy the vampire slayer when I need her?

Oh, don't worry, Bella doesn't like to talk, falls over everything, and is moody but is somehow popular. Right. Oh, and she is super smart. Faulkner? Totally read that. This lab? Totally have already done it. If that is true why the hell is she in these crap classes? Why aren't her parents talking to the counselors to get her into better classes?

Speaking of parents. Bells left her mom so she (the mom) could gallivant off with her new minor league baseball playing husband. Oh, and her dad is really busy being town sheriff. But don't worry, she sends emails to her mom and whips up dinners for her dad. You know, when she isn't swooning. So glad this novel provides good parental role models.

Let's get to why we are really here folks. The love story. That is what this is supposed to be right? A teen romance novel. Just like Romeo & Juliet, only sucky. So Eddie is pretty much in love with Bells the moment he sees her. Only he shows it by pushing her away. That actually rings true. I get that. What I don't get is the paradox of Bells needing saving like ALL THE TIME while also calling herself stupid for liking vampy Eddie. Oh and don't worry, Eddie tells Bells how incredibly bad he is for her (you know, because he can't seem to lie to her...sigh). Girlfriend just doesn't listen. Typical.

During a science class they test their blood types. Wow. Seriously? They actually prick their fingers and put blood drops on slides. Honestly? 1. law suit and 2. these vampires suck. They are in the same school (remember, they go to school like good little vampires, except when their feelings for certain ladies are too much to handle, then they ditch) and you are trying to tell me they didn't come to take advantage of an entire room of flowing blood?

Three people asked Bells to the Sadie Hawkins dance. That is where the girl asks the GUY to the dance. You are trying to tell me that not one, not two, but three high school boys couldn't wait for Bells to ask them to the dance to the point where each asked her? To her face? Are you kidding? Are we sure Bells isn't the one who sparkles in daylight?

There is fiction and there is fiiiiiction. The book is pretty much fantasy at this point. I want to punch Bells in the face and then show Eddie how to be a real vampire.

Thankfully, I am also reading Dracula: The Un-Dead. In that book, a duchess vampire just took a bath in the blood of a peasant she tortured.

Ball's in your court Eddie.

"We scowled at each other in silence. I was the first to speak, trying to keep myself focused. I was in danger of being distracted by his livid, glorious face. It was like trying to stare down a destroying angel."
Stephanie Meyer, Twilight