Fantasy As Required Reading

School bells are ringing and all across the nation, kids everywhere are massively bummed out.  It’s that inglorious time of year when it’s time to pile onto the school bus once again and truck off to academia.  Hopefully you got your required summer reading out of the way, and hopefully you got to read books you might actually -want- to read.

A few of my friends went to more progressive high schools than my own where this was already the case.  I, however, spent my adolescence in podunk north Georgia where this was anything -but-.  Nor had it changed much in my younger brother’s time in the county school system  three years later.

Today though I want to give a shout out to a rural school system that is doing it right.  My best friend was looking for a job in education, and excitedly e-mailed me the summer reading list for Dawson County high school.  Dawson is a fairly small county in the North Georgia mountains that abuts my own hometown. Amongst the usual suspects like Dickens, Faulkner, and Wells, there they were the works of Robert Jordan, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Ursula K. Le Guin.  Dude! I never thought I would say it, but GO DAWSON!

Does anything hurt vampires anymore?

To be fair this may only be true of teen fiction, but it seems like vampires these days are impervious to well…everything.  Would the Corey’s have stood a chance against Keifer Sutherland’s band of lost boys if they had been Cullens?  What the hell happened to vampires who exploded on a sunny day like a decent creature of the night should!?  -I’m- more allergic to garlic than these young, modern vampires are!  Argh!

I’ll confess, I really liked the whole “sparkle in the sun” thing in Twilight and I could buy that as a sort of evolutionary advantage left over from the primordial times.  (like how fish are attracted to shiny lures) But now, more and more it’s seeming like -the standard- that vampires are unfazed by their traditional weaknesses.  The only weaknesses these new vampires seem to have are those of the heart and psyche.  To apply the old Superman argument, what fun is it when your hero is impervious to bullets? These new vampires seem to be blest with all the perks (immortality, lightning reflexes, beauty, grace, magic yadda yadda) but little of the baggage.  Just think of how much more interesting it would be to see the human protagonists deal with the full weight and consequence of becoming a classic vampire.  Bloodlust and heightened sensuality is only the tip of the iceberg.  Really think about what it would be like to -never- see the sunlight again.  What would that do to you?  What if you were a christian and could no longer pray on a rosary or on holy ground while these changes were happening to you?  There is a lot more serious and psychological ground that -could- be covered in vampire fiction that isn’t  (particularly in YA fiction).

/End of Line

~ L.

A Sensible Book Trailer & Sea Monsters

Oh, ho ho. I am so happy that such a thing exists.  Though I still haven’t gotten around to picking up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I’m glad to see that Quirk Books is rolling forward with this series.  And now without further adieu, I give you Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

P.S. – Love that cover!

/ End of Line

~ L

Why B&N doesn’t get my business

So I finally talked myself into buying into the Barnes & Noble membership program four months ago. You know the deal. Pay $25 dollars annually, receive 10% off all your purchases plus access to exclusive member coupons and the like. I always shy away from those programs where you have to buy into the rewards program because inevitably I forget to renew or I don’t earn back my money.

Well since getting my member card, I’ve made one purchase: a $9.99 manga from Tokyopop. Yay, a savings of a whole .99 cents! I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I”m probably not going to be earning back my membership fee within a year’s time. Meanwhile at Borders, I’ve spent about $40.00 so far this month.

I don’t have anything against the company. I have to admit, Barnes and Noble usually has a wider selection than Borders. I also feel that they do a better job of keeping books in stock. The Border’s at Penn Station and Columbus Circle are notorious for never having the book I’m looking for in stock. B&N locations are also, in general, more convenient. In fact I believe that was why I purchased that one manga back in January. It was cold, and I’d rather walk next door to Barnes and Noble than up to 59th. The difference between Borders and B&N is that B&N is not usually able to get me into their retail outlets like Borders can, and the reasons for that are the differences in their e-mail alerts and coupons.

That 10% that B&N offers helps, but it’s such a trivial amount that it doesn’t convince me that I need to buy this book -now-. Logic wins out every-time. Why save 10% when I could save 100% by not going into the bookstore to begin with. Whereas at Borders, when I see anything over 20% off in my inbox, my palms start sweating.

25%? That’s a whole $6.25 off that new hardcover. Hmm, maybe I should get it now instead of waiting for the mass market. Oh and it’s only good for two days. Hmm, no time to thing about this; off to the bookstore I go.

And once I’m in the store, they’ve got me. It’s very hard to walk out having only bought one book at a discount. Those front tables sing to me like Sirens. Another great thing about Border’s Rewards is that -every time- you receive an e-mail from them, there is always some sort of coupon attacked. From 15% to 40%; it’s always a surprise and one that I enjoy. They make it fun to receive consumer spam.

I really do love Borders, as far as retail chains go. The store is always clean, I’ve had better experiences with the staff, and the incentives are grand. I hope the company will be able to pick itself up by the bootstraps.

Another thing that I think Barnes & Noble does a poorer job of is the content of their e-mail alerts. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the interviews on B&N.com. I’ve found a lot of interesting books through the supplementary content on the website referred to me in those e-mail alerts, but I don’t take that information to the next step of actually purchasing the books from B&N. There is a disconnect between B&N Studio and the “Buy Now” mindset.

I have one other minor beef with Barnes and Nobles that’s personal in nature. I just don’t respond well to the green color scheme. I know that’s their image, but I don’t. It makes me think of money, the money I’m handing to the cashier. The money I don’t have.

/End of Line

~ Darcy

Judge a Book by its Cover

Belle of the Books did a neat little mash-up of Pride and Prejudice book covers for Weekly Geek, since it’s one of those books that will forever be reprinted and there are a ton of covers to chose from.  It was a neat little exercise showing a lot of variety, and I’ve been meaning to do my own since I absolutely love book cover design.   Pride and Prejudice would have also been my top pick (because it’s one of my favorite books) but alas, for not.  So I’ll be going off the beaten path to bring you one of my favorite translated works: A Wild Sheep Chase.

Before I get to the eye-candy.  I encourage you to check out Belle of the Books.  It’s a really cute blog, one of the many which I still need to add to my sidebar.  >.<  Maybe I’ll get around to that this week.  It’s been on my To Do List for a month but ever time I log into my RSS feed reader it’s just…so…daunting. Gaaaah.  Anyway, COVERS!

                     

                                                 

                                         

That last one is probably my favorite, it’s just a sheep standing besides a hastily drawn tree beneath the red sun.  It’s got a very Shel Silverstein “Where the Sidewalk Ends” feel to it, which is highly appropriate for this book/hunt.  It’s a really bizarre book, but so unbelievably satisfying.  

I believe it was Murakami’s debut work in America. Now this may sound strange, but it always reminded me of some fucked-up form of the Matrix sans the hard-core sci-fi elements, where Unamed is the very passive (seemingly either out of place in regular society) Mr. Anderson character that get’s swept up in this giant government conspiracy/hunt.  So maybe from there the similarities degenerate as the hunt did into a completely twisted adventure involving a very snarky Sheepman…or prophet, eh?, but I still think of the unamed character in this way.  Konnban wa Anderuson-san. 

It’s one of my favorite translated works.  

And if you’ve read the book.  This is going to make perfect sense:

Iamthesheepandthesheepisme.
Wedon’tbreathewhenwespeakinsheepspeak.
Mortalmanbowbeforewe.  Allyourbasearebelongedtome. Baaa.

/End of Line

~ Darcy

My Birthday Haul

I had a birthday this week, and as is my custom, I allow my self a mini shopping spree at Borders.  I admit, it helped that I got a 40% off one book coupon in addition to my birthday coupon.  So here is what I picked up:

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

I love the Artemis books.  I’ll go into that more when I review them, but for now I’ll just say that I love Artemis for being the persnickety little bastard that he is.  I felt the progression of his character especially in the first three books was fantastic.   The third book had me near tears when he made that certain sacrifice for his dad.  I can’t wait to read Lost Colony.  I must force myself to finish the other three books I’m in the middle of right now though.  The disappointment that was Breaking Dawn has kind of put a dent in the recent reading binge I’ve been on.  Granted it is because of the disappointment that was Breaking Dawn that I bought these two over other books. I believe the first words out of my mouth when I finished (if you don’t count the string of nonsensical curse words I let loose) were “And to think!  I could have been reading Artemis Fowl instead of this crap!”  So thank you, Renesmee?  I guess.

Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston

For nostalgia’s sake and because it has been a long time since I’ve read a Star Wars book, I decided to pick it up.  And hey, one of the Solo twins is in it!  Maybe I’ll actually continue this series.  The Star Wars expanded universe has grown so much since I fell out of the fandom.  I hope this will be a good place to pick it back up again.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

So, I had sworn I’d take a break from YA fantasy titles for girls for a while, buuuuuut that didn’t happen.  I hadn’t realized that Wicked Lovely was finally in paperback.  I’ve been wanting to read this book since the 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival when I heard Melissa Marr speak for the first time.  I absolutely adore her.  She seems like such a nice woman and one of those authors that is very approachable.  I regretted that I didn’t have the money on hand to buy her book that day, a fact that I still regret.  I saw her again at Comic Con NY as well, to talk about the experience of having one’s work adapted to graphic novel format.  Actually, I don’t believe that was the focus of the panel, but I don’t really remember the other panelists.  I was glad though that an author was there to speak on that process. I attended the Jim Butcher/Dabel Brothers Productions panel for much the same reason.   

Anyway, happy birthday to me!

I -Own- Most of My Books

All right, that title deserves some explanation. I came across an interesting essay whilst surfing the blogosphere about marking books. I credit a new blog called Dangling Conversations, for bringing this to my attention. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Anyway, the essay by Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D (Click to read the full thing):

I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love. You shouldn’t mark up a book which isn’t yours…

There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. An illustration may make the point clear. You buy a beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher’s icebox to your own. But you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you consume it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books, too, must be absorbed in your blood stream to do you any good.

Confusion about what it means to “own” a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type — a respect for the physical thing — the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possible for a man to acquire the idea, to possess the beauty, which a great book contains, without staking his claim by pasting his bookplate inside the cover.

My Thoughts: I both agree and disagree with the thoughts expressed in this essay. I think Dr. Adler is being a bit unfair by seeming to say that the marked up book has been more throughly thought about and actively enjoyed by the reader. I may not always have a pen on hand to sling profanity from the margins at characters who do things to upset me, (generally for being a stupid male) but trust me I’ll be thinking about them -all day- and partially into next week! I do agree that there is no irreverence done by marking up a book, by writing in it or creasing pages (unless of course it is the property of some library). I also agree that marking up a book is another way to -own- a book by actively putting down (and thus preserving) your impressions as you read it. I confess that I -own- a lot of books this way. So many of my books are held together by ducktape and covered in notes (and a few drawn on mustaches because some men look better with facial hair). When I go back and read those books, I’m not only getting the story that’s been put down on paper but I’m getting to story of myself as a reader.

I frequently buy multiple copies of books, because I like to have both the unaltered text for archival purposes and what I call -my- book. When some of these books go out on loan, I often give my friends the option of which they’d prefer. Surprisingly, sometimes they ask for the commentary!  Apparently, I can be quite funny.  I think those friends are out of their minds.   Of course I’m always very nervous when these books go out on loan because I’m not just risking a book. I’m risking my own memories.

More Graceling Stuff

Flipping through this week’s PW I saw a starred review for Kristin Cashore’s Graceling.  I read it and it made me want the book even  more now.  In fact it made me so happy, I skipped up Broadway to catch my bus with a merry tune in my head.   Anyway, I thought I’d share.  I can’t wait for October!

In a land of seven kingdoms, people with special talents, called Gracelings, are identified by their eyes—Katsa’s are green and blue, one of each—although she’s eight before her specific Grace is identified as a talent for killing. (While in the court of her uncle, King Randa, she swiped at a man attempting to grope her and struck him dead.) By 18 she’s King Randa’s henchwoman, dispatched to knock heads and lop off appendages when subjects disobey, but she hates the job. As an antidote, she leads a secret council whose members work against corrupt power, and in this role, while rescuing a kidnapped royal, she meets the silver-and-gold–eyed Po, the Graced seventh son of the Lienid king. That these two are destined to be lovers is obvious, though beautiful, defiant Katsa convincingly claims no man will control her. Their exquisitely drawn romance (the sex is offstage) will slake the thirst of Twilight fans, but one measure of this novel’s achievements lies in its broad appeal. Tamora Pierce fans will embrace the take-charge heroine; there’s also enough political intrigue to recommend it to readers of Megan Whalen Turner’s Attolia trilogy. And while adult readers, too, will enjoy the author’s originality, the writing is perfectly pitched at teens struggling to put their own talents to good use. With this riveting debut, Cashore has set the bar exceedingly high. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)

The Books I Can’t Live Without

An article from the Times Online asked Sebastian Faulks, author of the new James Bond Novels, what were the books he couldn’t live without.  Yay for him for being a Proust fan. 

Anyway, the article lead me to ask myself that same question again.  Being a student, every year or so I was faced with this same dilema.  My dorms and apartments have never allowed me the luxury of living among all my musty friends at any one time.  Sacrifices had to be made.  While I have two full shelves of books in my current apartment, there are still about twenty boxes still at my parents house that I won’t be seeing again for a very long time.  The Wheel of Time aside, the following are my top books that I can’t live without, even if I am living in a card board box in Central Park.

Dune by Frank Herbet
Dune is my favorite SF classic of all time.  The series is fantastic, but it the first of the series is an incredible work all on it’s own. 

The Writing Life & Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard is one of those writers I go to whenever my confidence is a little low.  She’s able to find such joy and beauty in the smallest things, things that I wouldn’t necessarily find all that amazing.  Nevertheless she is able to muster up some fantastic writing, enough to fill a whole chapter up with cats and catepillars.  I always feel like I’m missing out on things when I read her work and it perks right me up.

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
It is a very simple book, but another one of those feel good experiences.  I confess though, I’m not a fan of Yoshimoto’s other work.  Everything else feels like just another reiteration of the sentiments expressed in Kitchen.

The Illiad by Homer
I love greek epic.  I also love reading greek epic aloud, which makes me a total dork I suppose.  The melodrama is ten times what you find in an ordinary romance novel.   Ahhh, those were the days when the men were men, the demons, demons and a pair of fine eyes didn’t always reduce them to love sick whelps.  Seriously if you are a badass vampire who has been a live for several thouhsand years, hardened by the most violent eras of human history, I don’t want to see you spouting how much you live for the woman by page 112 of a 350 page book.  Go seige something, please.

The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie
Due to my love of classical works and lore, Rushdie really appeals to me.  He weaves together myth and pop culture seamlessly. 

The Ripley Series
I love Ripley, and that’s all I really have to say.  He’s my favorite little sociopath in the whole-wide-world.

I’d love to hear a few of yours.