Lazy and Pretentious

Honor Harrington #2: The Honor of the Queen

2010-01-21T09:16:36Z

My first reaction to finishing the book goes something like: "ashlasdjfhksjdgawesome!" These books are a lot of fun - I can't deny that. I'll be on to read the next one after Vilette, or maybe before, depending on my mood. But! After a few minutes of feeling fuzzy and happy over enjoying the book, I came back to my other thoughts on it.

Weber hits on some pretty heavy topics. Sure, you expect it when you read the summary and see it takes place in a setting that denies women rights; obviously, she's going to run into some bigoted behavior, and have to fight to prove herself. The situation is actually very cliche. After some reflection, it isn't the gender related issues he brings up that bother me, but the way he handled the fanaticism of his antagonists, who applied their ridiculous, froth-at-the-mouth policies to those issues.

I don't know if I'm making any sense. Basically, the author showed very early in the book that he was caricaturing his antagonists with the figure of Reginald Houseman, the economics expert who was all theory and no experience. I rolled my eyes when reading his argument with Honor in chapter three. He's only there to be stupid and make mistakes, but he's mostly inoffensive - I can only take so much idiocy, but she beats him up later in the book, and it was satisfying enough I'm willing to let his character slide... away. Under the table.

Now apply this to the fanatic Masadans. The Graysons are bigoted jerks when they interact with Honor's crew, but even they take issue with the way Masada handles women; they're a not-so-oblique reference to conservative practices known to exist in the Middle East (speaking generally, as I don't want to try pinpointing any possibilities for the model without more information). We see these practices in action twice: once during a meeting between the elders in which one of his wives is present and unveiled (cue rabid, unreasonable mental rant from one of his guests), and then during the rescue of Madrigal's prisoners at Blackbird, in which we find out the female crew and officers were systematically beaten and raped simply because they were women.

What bothers me about this - besides the obvious, rape being a triggering issue - is that this was written in just to show us how evil the Masadans are. For several chapters before this the reader assumes there were no survivors of the Madrigal's destruction, and then, all of the sudden, they show up. For what? Was it necessary? We already have Masadan characters literally frothing at the mouth - I think I get that they're fanatic and unreasonable and batshit insane. I don't need a story about multiple instances of gang rape that resulted in almost thirty deaths due to mistreatment.

I wonder how often rape in fiction is actually necessary to plot or character development? There must be a few instances - maybe I'm being too conservative. I don't think it was necessary here, however. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that in most cases, when I see characters in fantasy/sf raped, it's not necessary - it's the easy way to emotional trauma, stupid sexual healing that will probably lead directly to True Love, and let's not forget the way it was used here - as a big, neon yellow sign signaling that These Guys Are Really Evil, Horrible People.

Never mind the insult to the cultures Grayson and Masada parody.

Anyway, I still like the book overall, but this glared at me like the fucking Eye of Sauron. Honor is still all kinds of awesome. I didn't know she'd get that eye patch this early! Wow. That's kind of sad, but I'd much prefer the eye patch to references to her "oriental" beauty, which is ridiculous and passively racist, and well.

Unrelated: I'm going out of my way to buy the paperback editions with cover art by Laurence Schwinger, because it's much cooler than the new stuff - very painterly. Also, exactly what I remember seeing on the shelves when the books were first released. God, that was so long ago. I feel so old.

Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint series, finished-- for the moment.

2009-12-29T11:20:08Z

With The Fall of the Kings fresh in my mind, I thought I may as well talk more about Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint series. It really charmed me - or, I should say Alec charmed me, and the social and political play in the first novel was fun and interesting. I didn't find the related short stories (eg: The Death of the Duke) very interesting until I read The Privilege of the Sword, which itself isn't as likable as the first novel because Katharine frankly isn't as compelling as Alec was. My reasons for reading Privilege revolved around him.

Then, while I slogged through the beginning of The Fall, I realized something: it isn't the city that is the center of the story as I originally interpreted it, and as I've seen reviews assume; Alec is the center. If he isn't present, his close relatives are, and they're all bound by circumstances he created. They're constantly fighting the reputation he built for Tremontaine, even though the books indicate the family's "madness" was a hereditary condition that went back as far as the family line itself.

With that in mind, I'm surprised to say that The Fall of the Kings, which was my least favorite of the three for about two hundred pages, has taken a place equal to Swordspoint in my heart.

Now that I think about it, a world that revolves around one character is incomplete. That doesn't mean it isn't likable, only that the magic of the story doesn't last long after that character leaves the picture. Nothing is left to endure but the desire to see more of the same. Alec was a minor fixture in Privilege, more off-screen than not. In The Fall he isn't present at all, but what the Swordspoint universe lacks with Alec's absence is made up for with a strong mythology, lush, beautiful recurring images, a conflict between truth and the status quo, and a real sense of where this unnamed city is in relation to the rest of its world, which until now has remained vague and unformed. By focusing on the university, and the department of history in particular, the authors gave us both interesting characters (in my opinion) and a compelling environment in which they could thrive, and I can finally leave the Swordspoint universe with a sense of what it looks like. I even got a bit of literal magic in the bargain.

My complaints are brief: one, the end of the story was predictable - but that was also the only appropriate way for it to end. Two, it dragged in spots; I think the novel could have been better paced. Thirdly, having read Privilege first, I felt Katharine's character was flat and inconsistent, but that's a result of the order in which I experienced them; The Fall was written before Privilege, and therefore was the basis of her character, not an incomplete conclusion.

This isn't to say I think the book is perfect; only that, for what it achieves - a world with real depth in addition to likable characters - makes it a better book than the other two.

I also think it has the sense of overblown drama that the original Swordspoint did, and which Katharine's book lacked. It took me a while to finish, though, because of the pacing issues mentioned above, and because Elantris was still on my reading list and busy pissing me off. Alas.

Anyway, it's telling the majority of fan fiction is about Alec somehow. Seriously. And thank god.

Elantris - I give up.

2009-12-28T10:56:52Z

So, I'm washing my hands of Elantris. Two hundred pages in I still dread Sarene and Hrathen chapters, and though I haven't finished the book, I have very definite opinions about it.

While Elantris avoids some annoying fantasy cliches as I mentioned before - the annoying spunky princess running from her engagement, for example - the author wasn't able to create a full cast of compelling characters. He ended up with one: Raoden.

( More on that; cutting for length and minor spoilers. )

Have a nice trip back to the library, Elantris. I just can't take it anymore.

.

I purchased a used copy so I could finish - eventually - and make a fair judgment. However, I think the author has a responsibility to snare his reader within the first two hundred pages, don't you? Maybe I'm being picky. Everyone else seems to think Elantris is the best thing since sliced bread, and it does have potential - I just don't think the book lived up to that potential fast enough. Maybe I'll change my mind. It's a bad sign that it took me six weeks to get through half the book, though.

It was extremely hard to find spoilers, by the way. I don't know what the fans are doing, but it doesn't involve discussing the book, apparently.

Still reading Elantris.

2009-11-23T22:23:06Z

So hey, I normally neglect this journal anyway, but I should be reading more, not less, seeing as Nanowrimo doesn't actually jack my monthly word count up that much anymore; it's not like I don't have time to read. The problem is twofold:

1. I started playing Fire Emblem 4, and it's a time sink.

2. November's reading list started with Elantris, which has turned out to be really fucking slow.

It's getting better, but it took about a third of the book to get there, and-- and I don't know. It's not a bad novel. As a matter of fact, it avoids some pretty annoying cliches and features intelligent characters who generally do intelligent things. Elantris itself presents an interesting mystery, but that's the problem - it's so interesting I don't give a damn about the other plots going on. Forget Hrathen and Sarene, and give me more Raoden. I'd like the book a lot better that way.

... so. I still haven't finished it yet, and it's been about three weeks. I'd really like to get on with reading so I can move on to the other stuff on my list (The Fall of the Kings, The Terrorists of Irustan, the second Honor Harrington book), but the way the story crawled - still does, really, whenever I have to read about Sarene - makes me dread the attempt.

This is probably the sign that tells other people they should put the book down and step away. Why is that so hard for me?

Kushner, Weber, Zelazny

2009-10-26T08:37:13Z

Read Privilege of the Sword. I expected to loathe Katharine, but while she had her annoying moments, she was a likable character throughout, and the most irritating thing about the book ended up being the switches from third to first person POV, which I'm just not fond of. Kushner did a better job than Hearn, though - or maybe it's just that I like her book better, I don't know. Katharine, Alec, Artemesia, etc., were all so different from each other, with completely different motivations, so the shifts in POV might have been easier to follow.

The book did elaborate more on the city and, in a small way, the rest of the world, as I thought it might. The Fall of Kings, while it probably doesn't involve my favorite characters, is probably what I should read for more information on the city and country, which still isn't terribly developed.

Honor Harrington: On Basilisk Station blew my expectations away by actually being good. I picked it up expecting some kind of pulpy, hilarious space opera, and-- you know, it probably still qualifies as space opera, but the book surprised me by focusing a lot on politics, and Honor herself isn't the so-called canon sue I thought she would be when I read the first two chapters. Rune says the naval stuff is based on 17th century naval warfare (at least I, uh, think that's what he said? I can't find it~), and I like that.

Needles to say, I bought the second novel in the series, and plan to read more - though I'll have to go to the library for the rest, as there are too many in the series. I happened to find this one used, is all, and I can't deny my need to own a book titled The Honor of the Queen, anyway.

I find I'm picky about the cover art. I prefer the older paintings to the newer covers, which look too slick.

Funny, I've been eyeing Honor Harrington since it was newly published, when I used to troll the SF section of the bookstore every week for new Star Wars novels. It's been a long time, but I finally got to it.

Somewhere in here I also read Nine Princes in Amber, another book I picked up used because it was only $0.75 and I remembered that some of my friends liked the series ages ago. It was hard to get into; I think if I read fantasy, there has to be something immediately historical or fantastic about it, or I'll get bored and wander off to read something that has sword fights instead. I don't require flashy magic or anything - Swordspoint was pure love, and it doesn't have any magic at all - but Amber started out in the "real world," and while I liked Corwin and some of his interactions with the other characters, he didn't interest me that much. The supposed cutthroat politics of the family felt almost pasted on, so to speak. And the otherworld-- it's hard to explain, but I felt like the path to Amber was flashy for the sake of being flashy. It didn't feel like it had real substance.

It got more interesting toward the end, but I don't think I care enough to read more. Too bad.

Next:
- The Farthest Shore
- Foundation
- The Honor of the Queen

... maybe. Honor will get her time, but I'm so bad about sticking to lists.

Swordspoint, Dresden Files

2009-10-22T12:44:04Z

Here I thought I was getting a lot of reading done, and it turns out I only read about as much as a normal person - you know, the type that isn't lazy. I admit, ~~slave-drivers~~ professors do extract more effort and accomplishment out of me when it comes to reading. Sigh.

So, the month started with Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint, which I'm head-over-heels in love with - so much, in fact, that I burned a few bucks on Privilege of the Sword, which I haven't had time to read yet. My observations are probably too fangirly and biased to be interesting, but I can tell you that I love Alec, and the novel did a few things I really appreciated:

1. It kept the scope small - one city, personal struggles.
2. Nobody made a big deal out of romance or sexual orientation.
3. Fascinating characters.

Based just on the first novel, I have to say that actually, despite the details, the city leaves something to be desired. There's Riverside - then there's the Hill. Riverside has more flavor than the Hill, but neither part of the city was expressed in such depth that I could picture it. Nothing of the middle ground is visible. The book seller was about it, and I have my doubts about his designation as middle class, given his merchandise and clientele. Also, I have absolutely no sense of what the world outside of the city is like. Yes, you see a few places-- kind of. But not really.

On the other hand, the characters were so interesting that I didn't feel cheated by the lack of detail. It just looks a little empty in retrospect. Maybe the sequel(s) will fix that.

After that I moved on to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files with Storm Front and, just now, Fool Moon. Right up front I noticed a lot of detective fiction's common tropes (societal anxiety, P.I vs. law enforcement, knight in shining armor), and while the nature of magic in the series is mundane and cliche (faeries? werewolves? pentacles?), the noir-ish style of the narration makes up for it. So does a cast of interesting characters.

However-- I'm not sure I'll read any more for a while because the author does something I really hate: he sets his characters up for suspicion and misunderstanding with convenient placement of characters at the wrong place at the wrong time, with ridiculous communication breakdowns, and lets these fake, avoidable problems drive the plot. And let's not forget the stubborn refusal of a character to listen.

Have I mentioned I hate that? I really, really loathe that technique.

At first I thought Morgan (from Storm Front) was a cliche, overblown villain-type - i.e. the rival detective with the real police force who dislikes the P.I. for bending rules and/or some incident in the past that broke trust between them. Every classic detective story seems to have one, but don't quote me on that, as I'm sure there are plenty that buck the tradition. Morgan fits it perfectly. He's also an over-zealous idiot who jumps to conclusions and shows up at exactly the wrong times so he can maintain his tainted view of Dresden and threaten him with official action, yadda yadda.

As it turns out, Murphy also jumps onto this boat - in both books. Considering how well she and Dresden are supposed to know each other, I find it unrealistic and frustrating, and it makes me want to stop reading for a few hours so I can contain my disgust.

If the author keeps doing that, I'll have to toss the series for my own good. It'd be a shame, because it's fun, but... god, I hate that.

Well, I'm tired and this is too long, so I'll get to Honor Harrington and Nine Princes in Amber some other time.

Invisible Cities, etc.

2009-10-08T03:47:10Z

Finished:
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino

Reading:
Japanese American Women: Three Generations 1890-1990, Mei Nakano
Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner

Things to find/check out:
Through Harsh Winters: The Life of a Japanese Immigrant Woman, Akemi Kikumura
Issei, Nisei, War Bride, Evelyn Nakano Glenn

So, being a Writer, or an English Major, I feel I should take something deep away from Calvino's Invisible Cities. I think it was fascinating, but I admit the things that stand out to me aren't terribly significant: his use of rhythm, which may or may not be affected by translation, the emphasis on perspective rather than the concrete - because nothing in this novel is concrete - and the anachronisms here and there I assume were purposeful. It was an interesting study in human nature. I'm amused the cities were all feminine. And actually, though the only memory I have of a novel, or movie, etc., regarding Polo and Kublai Khan is so far in the past I only remember images and maybe one scene, their relationship in the book was interesting - another dance in perspectives, I guess. My favorite part was the bit of narrative focusing on Polo's attempts to communicate without language. Maybe there's an argument to be made there, about language. I'm not the one to make it though.

Japanese American Women is building on my earlier reading with more details. In some ways it reminds me strongly of what I've read about Jewish immigrants, though the book makes some points about similarities (and dissimilarities) in immigrant experience that would seem to be true - a western ethnicity could blend in eventually, but people of color generally did not.

Then again, I didn't study that much of the Jewish immigrant experience, so I can't speak with authority on this. The literature I did read, however, indicated the reaction to their group was not quite so virulent.

Well, I guess I'm not a Sociologist or Historian, either. And now that I think about it, nobody expects Writers to be smart.

(Phew. Dodged that bullet.)

Dune, Frank Herbert

2009-09-13T20:13:49Z

So... I wish I could say something deep or perceptive about Dune, but having just finished it, the clearest thought in my mind is: this book doesn't need a sequel. There's no reason to read the others, unless maybe I'm curious about... uh, the Harkonnens, which is the only other volume I can bring to mind right now. There are things that could be elaborated on - the source of the feud between Atreides and Harkonnen, for instance, or the Bene Gesserit secrets - but they're almost better as a mystery.

The duels were interesting, actually, and I can see why someone said they'd be a good model for someone trying to figure out how to write a one-on-one fight scene. I can't say they're excellent, since I don't know what an excellent fight scene looks like, but Herbert maintained reasonable tension, didn't waste too much time with useless dialogue, and kept the action moving, all with pacing that didn't stand out as bad - which says to me it was at least okay. The descriptions were to the point. None of them lasted longer than they should have. Larger battles were mainly narrated via reports to the characters leading each force, which I think was a smart course, as it saved the author from having to maintain ten different threads of action while avoiding confusion and maintaining tension, which sounds like it'd be hard.

( More. )

This is mostly about Dune.

2009-08-23T00:50:39Z

Reading Dune and Japanese-American Women: Three Generations, 1890-1990, which finally showed up in the library so I could check it out. I'll need to read more of the latter to actually say anything about it.

Dune, on the other hand, doesn't get that courtesy. Not that I have much to say forty pages in, but.

The Reverend Mother is the coolest character by far at this time. She's arrogant, irritable, and calls people on their shit, though I think she's criticizing just for the sake of it, too. Thufir Hawat seems interesting too. Jessica irritates me, and Paul hasn't inspired me to feel anything just yet, but I think the author did a good job depicting him as a boy who's smart, but still young and inexperienced, and prone to thinking he knows everything. He's not stupid or whiny, which I appreciate.

I get the politics, as far as they've revealed them-- refreshing, after Wolfe and his purposely dense prose. Seeing An unparalleled achievement of imagination on the cover just makes me want to contradict it, though, so I while I have criticisms of the writing, and think it's definitely not up to the bar the last four books were in terms of language, I'm probably being uncharitable.
.

Sooooo, hm. As always, I want to revise my reading list. I don't feel like finishing Heinlein, and I suspect I'll never finish The Red Tent. Library books have higher priority, of course.

- Takaki, Strangers From a Different Shore
- Kitagawa, Issei and Nisei: The Internment Years
- Gonzalez, Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America

And the previous lists still apply. At the very least I'd like to get rid of the ones that aren't keepers, because I have no cash or shelf space, which is a bad combination.

The Book of the New Sun, finished.

2009-08-18T03:01:31Z

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
1. The Shadow of the Torturer
2. The Claw of the Conciliator
3. The Sword of the Lictor
4. The Citadel of the Autarch

Given the fragmented nature of my reading schedule, I'm not sure I can remember everything I wanted to say about these books. I let them sit for a couple of weeks at a time between books, and between Conciliator and Lictor, I think I waited at least two months, maybe more. My memory for timelines, characters, and details is pretty dependable, but I don't know if I'd trust myself to do an analysis right now.

The series starts with The Shadow of the Torturer, when the narrator, though writing from far in the future, is still very young and ignorant of everything outside of the tower he grew up in, and maybe some of the surrounding area-- so in essence, the reader learns more about Severian's world with him, though he still has an advantage over us-- he grew up with mythologies and histories the reader didn't, and so he approaches strange events with a kind of infuriating calmness.

But the interesting thing about the narration, the thing I liked, was how undependable it was. It's Severian the Autarch, talking about a time years before he became who he is now, and you can tell hindsight is affecting his memory of the events-- or such is my theory, rather than suspecting the validity of his claim to a perfect memory, because having the ability to recall everything doesn't make those memories proof against the holder's changing perspective. Severian "knows" a few too many things at points in the narrative. I speculated about that here, but considering how I read these books, I can't say with confidence that opinion is based firmly in the actual text. Some events do make me wonder about him, though; his meetings with the former Autarch, for example, felt surreal, and I suspect the probability of Severian guessing the man's identity when he was still ignorant of almost everything else.

The last novel does give a possible sort of explanation (Citadel, ch.38) for this type of foreknowledge, which would also explain the surreality of his experiences and the people he met (the Green Man or the old man on the mountain are two examples), but that would be awfully simple, wouldn't it? Like a Deus ex Machina-- which I believe he mentions in some chapter or other. XD I don't remember which one, though. It was late in the book, maybe somewhere around his rescue from the Ascians.

What makes me want more is realizing how little of the world was actually revealed in these novels. I started with the impression the setting was vast and mysterious, and Severian's Citadel was only a tiny sliver; the journey through the rest of the city, which stretches for several chapters (possibly more than a dozen? I remember it being quite a while, all the way to the end of the first book), reinforces this notion. Then he gets out of the city, and the world almost seems small again. It's interesting that, even though he journeys farther in the last three books than he ever did in Nessus during the first volume, it feels much shorter and more compact. I think Severian learns and expands more during the first book, just within himself. The learning curve is steeper.

What I didn't like was how the narrative jerked me around in time. I've mentioned several times how off-putting the jump from the first to second novel was - there simply wasn't a transition. At all. There was a bigger jump in time between books two and three, but at least it told me what happened. Between three and four the transition was much smoother.

On the same note, the style of Severian's narration was incredibly hard to get used to at first, and that also jerked me around. He has a habit of stopping in the middle of describing events to go on a tangent about something it reminded him of as he was writing (the freshest example being his recollection of his last meeting with Dr. Talos in Citadel), and I got lost several times during the first novel. I'm not sure if Wolfe stopped doing that in the later novels, or perhaps if they were shorter on contemplation than the first one, which involves the narrator reflecting on the most distant events of his life - or, if I got used to the jumping around and learned to roll with it.

So, Wikipedia says The Book of the Long Sun (also four books) and The Book of the Short Sun are distantly connected to the ones I just read. There's also The Urth of the New Sun, which is directly connected, and I think I'd like to read that. I both want more and don't, right now. Also, I was interested in his Latro novels a long time ago, and if I read anything of Wolfe's next, it might be those instead.

The interpretations and theories section of the Wikipedia article boggle me. Either I really wasn't paying attention while I read - possible, during the times I was scrambling to keep up with the narrative style - or these people are completely out there. I don't know, some of those theories are really strange. The only one that sounds remotely plausible is the speculation the Autarch is Thecla's father.

Really, though, I'm not the deepest reader, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I enjoyed the books though. Someday I'd like to read the others set in this world.

More adventures with Wolfe.

2009-08-10T23:18:56Z

At chapter twenty eight of Sword of the Lictor (Wolfe).

Not only is Severian a man-whore, but he's also... he has a way of losing companions. They die (Jolenta, little Severian), or desert him (Jonas, Talos et al), or he deserts them (Dorcas). Are you trying to tell me something, Severian?

It's not clear to me how much the boy's death affects him, actually. He claims to be unsure how he feels about little Severian, and reflects on his own self-serving actions that save the kid by coincidence, but it could go either way; his "despair" after the kid dies could be real, or it could be pathological loneliness inspired by the solitude of the mountains and several near-death experiences.

In any case, he's become such an unreliable narrator for me that I can't ever be sure I trust what he's saying - which is interesting, and happened in part because of something Charmian said in a previous entry about fan essays debating whether his memory is perfect or not. There are times Severian makes leaps of logic to figure things out when it's hard to believe he noticed these things. For example, chapter fifteen ("He is ahead of you!"), in which he comes across that isolated mountain house and finds Agia waiting for him. He connects her to Hethor, and Hethor to the creatures trying to kill him, and Hethor to Jonas also. I find it hard to believe he would have figured all of that out at the time. Rather, it seems his hindsight is coloring this part of the account, and I wonder if such a conversation with Agia even happened.

This happened earlier in the series, too, but I can't remember where offhand. The scene where he meets the Autarch comes to mind, but even that isn't quite what I'm talking about.

If Agia wants to die so badly, why not just jump off the mountain?

Slightly related, while searching for vocabulary (amschaspand), I came across a reference to one of the author's essays, "Words Weird and Wonderful," which includes a glossary and is a lot more convenient than plugging all of Wolfe's terms into Google, though the Google Books copy is, of course, incomplete. Maybe I can find the book (Castle of Days) for cheap on Amazon.

Random update, blurb on: Japanese-American Experience.

2009-07-15T01:04:17Z

Still "reading" everything in this entry, though I finished The Japanese-American Experience. That was almost a month ago, so I'm not sure I can produce any meaningful commentary, but this isn't an interest I share with a lot of people, so maybe that doesn't matter.

My interest in American history has never been what you'd call deep. Unfortunately, until recently my interest in minority groups here only extended to Jewish immigrants at various points in history. While I was a huge fan of the Little House books and pioneer America as a child, that source material is pretty crappy, and my interest didn't survive into adulthood.

That said, I learned from this book. I knew about the internment, of course, but there are many details of the Japanese American experience I wasn't aware of with only general US history knowledge. For instance, I didn't know agriculture was where the group began, nor did I realize prejudice was so virulent as to produce some of the speeches quoted in the book. Of course I understood it existed; seeing and hearing what public figures actually said is more enlightening.

I'm glad I read the book. And this entry has been edited a few times, because I wasn't satisfied with the way it expressed my thoughts. It just... didn't.

Adding to the reading list:
Dune
Dandelion Wine
Seventeen Syllables

This is in addition to:
Japanese Culture and Behavior (academic essays)
Polite Lies
Asian Mystique

... and other stuff I'm still working through. I'm in a gaming phase right now, so whatever time isn't spent on writing is being invested in various Fire Emblem games and the new Valkyrie Profile.

I'm sure this'll pass.

Life-changing Books? (cross-post)

2009-06-12T08:42:13Z

[Crossposting, as I realized this post was more of a book-bloggish thing.]

After some angsting and a trip to In-N-Out (mmmmmmm), I'm all better - which means I'm in the mood to a) write useless fan fiction, and b) think about things that don't matter. I heard about a meme going around on Facebook (don't have an account, don't want one) that basically asks you to list the top fifteen books that stuck with you, and the person I was talking to said most of the responses were about books that changed the poster's world view or had a profound impact on their lives in their opinion, and I started wondering... have I read any books like that?

At the moment, the answer is no. We're talking about life-changing books, right?

Well, no. I can't name a single book that changed my life or my outlook so profoundly that I carry it with me to this day. I can think of books I loved, and books I think were really good, but perspective-bending? Not even the Bible - though I admit I liked Jesus a lot more once I read what he is actually recorded as saying (as opposed to seeing him reflected by crazy, right-wing nutcases). I can think of one video game that changed me - and it wasn't that the game itself was revelatory, but that it inspired me to look at other things which served that function.

All I can think of, when I dig, is Still Alive by Ruth Kluger, because she articulates (and is allowed to articulate) several things about Holocaust "culture" and history that I have thought for a long time, but either didn't have the words to express, or felt I wasn't allowed to because I'm a privileged American whose family historically identifies as Christian to varying degrees, with several exceptions.

Also, I would have to say Deepad's I Didn't Dream of Dragons made me think of things I simply hadn't addressed before - not appropriation, which I was aware of when I read the post (my history professors harped on that a lot, especially in the Asian studies department) and in some cases guilty of, so much as... something I'm having a hard time articulating without a generalization; the difference in levels on the economic and academic playing field (?) and how that affects someone else's ability to just get out there and write what they want to see in literature (i.e. the fallacy in "don't like it? write your own!").

I don't know, there are a lot of things I heard, watched, or read that inspired me to look at something else, which then changed my life to some degree. But I wouldn't attribute my interest in the Japanese language to Ah! My Goddess, nor can I credit Xenogears with teaching me anything about religion, or The Eye of the World with teaching me how to world-build. Eleven years ago, listening to AMG's ending theme got me interested in hearing Japanese again (that being my first exposure to it, believe it or not), but it was the classes I took that made me love the language for real - for itself. As for the series, I wouldn't call it great literature, or even affecting on an emotional level; it's cute, fun, and fluffy. It has its place.

Can any of you list fifteen books that had a profound effect on your life or outlook - or even two or three? I'm curious. Maybe I'm not giving credit where it's due.

Books I was reading, why I stopped, and maybe - how to get going again.

2009-06-09T00:05:14Z

I'm trying to motivate myself.

The Sword of the Lictor, Wolfe
Current progress: sitting at chapter 7.
This is still "in progress" because my pattern with these books goes like this: pick it up, read nonstop for 200-400 pages - then put it down for three weeks. Rinse and repeat. There aren't any problems with the book or my ability to get into it, though I guess the writing can make it hard to feel like jumping in again. It feels vast and extremely complicated.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein
Current progress: stalled in the middle of chapter 7. (coincidence?)
Despite the simplicity of the writing and my interest in the world and politics laid out in what I've read, it's incredibly hard to get into. The characters are distinct, but the language used by the narrator is choppy and hard to get used to; the female characters are ridiculous and rather sexist, which I don't care about that much except that they're unrealistic and basically used as sounding boards for the smarter male characters to explain everything to the reader. I'd really like to see how they manage the revolution, though, which is why I haven't given up on finishing it someday.

I think the language will be the most difficult barrier to overcome.

The Red Tent, Diamant
Current progress: stalled at part two, chapter seven. (... wow.)
The first part was mesmerizing. I've seen complaints that so much of the narrative focuses on the red tent (duh) and the female cycle, and so on, but it made perfect sense to me, and I loved the characters. Dinah herself, on the other hand, bores me, and so does her story. I'm not sure why that is - maybe because the first generation carried a sense of community, and destiny, and though I know Dinah's story in a vague way, I... don't really care. Maybe the historian in me is more interested in the details of the culture of the red tent, regardless of how accurate it is.

I'd like to use this in an essay on fact versus fictional construct in novels/stories, and I'd feel guilty doing so without finishing it. That would probably mess me up. However, that's my only reason for wanting to finish.

His Majesty's Dragon, Novik
Current progress: sitting at chapter five (HA.)
This is the most adorable book I've ever read. My only beef is with the imprecision of the language - it almost, but not quite, captures the archaic speech patterns the author is going for. I think I notice because I read so much literature actually written in relevant time periods (18th to early 20th century). Anyway, the two main characters are so likable, and cute, and-- I do want to finish. I think I stalled with this at the end of January because I was trying to get started with a book club.

Lolita, Nabokov
Current progress: part three (I think?), chapter four
I'm not sure if I'll finish this. It was fascinating at first, and the writing is beautiful, but the middle part drags and I just couldn't keep myself reading. I'll try going back to it later. It was a library book, so I didn't have the luxury of letting it sit on my desk so I'd pick it up now and then to get through the slow parts.

I'm almost done with The Japanese-American Experience, which is slow reading just because it's academic.

An interesting companion to The Flavor Bible.

2009-06-03T01:14:44Z

Simple Menus for the Bento Box, Greaves and Nish

Summary: I like the book. :D It was an interesting and informative read, as far as cookbooks go, but I think it assumes too much about the cook to be readily accessible.
.

Every Japanese cookbook I own spends some time on food arrangement and the philosophy that food should be visually pleasing to stimulate the appetite in addition to good scent and flavor combinations - the ones in Japanese a bit less, I think, perhaps because these things go without saying for a Japanese cook, regardless of whether they actually follow the rules. I can't be sure, as I've never lived there. But Simple Menus spends pages on visual presentation - and not just in the introduction, but at the beginning of every chapter, and in the notes at the end of each recipe.

The book is divided into chapters based on the four seasons, and within each chapter are three or four menus, or meal combinations. The first four pages are spent on an image, and a detailed explanation of why they arranged the bento as they did, why the ingredients were chosen, even why the plates were chosen. In addition you get a flavor overview; this combination was chosen for the way this ingredient enhances the nutty flavor of another ingredient, etc. The authors maintain the Japanese tradition of cooking seasonally, but branch out into different cuisines and flavors. As far as I can tell, having tried only one of the recipes (but being somewhat acquainted with flavoring), they've chosen interesting and potentially tasty combinations - though how each dish fits together into a single meal I don't know. Many of these recipes will be useful outside of bento-making.

Unfortunately, when it comes to practical use (i.e. actually constructing a meal), the book has limited potential. The author mentions several times these recipes are homey and comforting, and while that may be true, the focus on presentation takes the food to a new level - one most cooks probably do not want to waste their time on. With some exceptions the food preparation is simple and timely; the arrangement, however, takes practice, some skill, and an eye for design most people do not have, either because they aren't trained or that just isn't their forte. The principles of arrangement also require a significant investment of time, effort, and money to begin - for example, the stocking of one's cupboards with bento-sized dishes in various shapes and colors, and the initial purchase of the boxes.

Bento portions are also very small, and they're great when one wants to cut down on their eating without dieting or otherwise being deprived, but they require time to get used to. The average family will not be satisfied by bento servings. The average couple - because when I look at this book and the care put into arrangement, I see candlelit dinners for two - will not be satisfied either, if the object is to eat one's fill. Granted, I'm basing this assessment on American eating habits, which are terrible. I can't tell you how many times I've seen writers comment on this in their stories through foreign characters by saying, "One plate is enough to feed an entire family!" The cliche is deafening.

One American-sized meal is, however, enough for two (or three, depending). That said, I'm skeptical about these recipes being adequate for four people, as it says below each title. Certainly, I'd never slide this by the people living in my house, who would go back for two or three helpings of the same size and be disappointed to find nothing left.

My verdict is that the book is full of good ideas and interesting recipes with very simple execution, some of which arm the cook with tools to use when developing their own dishes, but the core of the book - design and arrangement - isn't practical for everyday use. I personally will save a few of my favorite recipes and return it to the library. Then it'll go on my wishlist, and if someone wants to buy it for me, I'd love to own it; I will not, however, spend my own limited funds.

My reading list is a mess, as always.

2009-05-18T08:03:20Z

I finished The Claw of the Conciliator and have moved on to Sword of the Lictor, and at the moment I have to say - these books, and this universe, are the strangest I've read in a long time. This might in part be the terminology; aside from a few brief notes in the Appendix at the back of Conciliator, terms like "armiger" and "exultant," or the terms for animals and races (none of which I can recall at the moment) without any real explanation or description I can remember add to the alien feel of the world. While I understand what they are in context, it's almost like I have no comparison for them.

There's also an odd mix of post-apocalyptic science fiction and dense fantasy in the setting; the presence of flyers, or lasers, mixed up with seers, and shadow creatures that suck the life out of their victims.

I think all of the above that I define as "fantasy" elements could be adequately explained as part of an alien setting. That's not the gut impression I got from reading, though.

It reminds me strongly of Zelazny's Lord of Light, which had a similar setting. I get the impression the Autarch is restricting use of technology to control the cities, while using it himself for various purposes, and that, among other things, is reflective of Zelazny. I haven't read very much SF, and haven't touched fantasy in years because of school; I wonder if this is a more common theme than I gave it credit for.

Anyway. The books are constantly jerking my sense of place around. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Also reading:
- The Japanese-American Experience
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

I really need to finish these. Especially the Heinlein book - it's been in progress for a bit too long.

[Books] Liu, The Accidental Asian

2009-05-10T10:02:43Z

Book blogging seems like the best use for this journal at the moment, since LJ gets so much fangirling and whining. This means updates will be rare. It isn't that I'm not reading, just that I have a bad habit of not thinking very hard about it when I do. Some English major, right?

But I'm not a good analyst. I don't even read my books twice.

Today I finished The Accidental Asian (Eric Liu). It reminds me of the reading I've done on cultural assimilation as it relates to Jews for classes taken within the Jewish Studies major. It's funny; I've been reading about it for years, but never consciously realized what I was looking at. I knew academically, read fiction for signs of cultural anxieties and wrote about it in my papers, yet it didn't penetrate because - I think - a topic like "Jews in Spain in the 15th century" is distant and impossible to relate to on an emotional level outside of fiction, and Holocaust literature can, among other things, show you an extremely disturbing outcome of attempts and perhaps failures to assimilate - though the matter is so complicated I think it'd be a bad idea to assign cause just to something like this. My focus was different, also; in the latter classes, for instance, my interest was in the craft of the literature (hammered into my head by the instructor - god I hate Kant, without even reading him), and the psychology of responses post-war.

And this is getting off-topic, isn't it. I feel like I should explain myself, but it isn't like I'm writing to a wide audience, here. God help me if I ever get Metafandomed - somehow I almost never manage to express exactly what I want to say on the first pass, and I can't fathom the urge to write more than one draft of a journal entry.

Liu draws strong parallels between the Jewish American experience and the Asian American, though he also explains in more than one essay that he believes the latter isn't a cohesive culture as Judaism is. I think that's simplifying too much, as the groups within Judaism can be vastly different - and in fact I think the parallels are just as strong when it comes diversity of national and cultural identities within a group - and that's exactly the point. The attempted merging of several cultures under the heading "Asian American" is misleading, and the general public isn't disposed toward critical thinking.

Bias. I have it. In spades.

I want to go over each essay again and outline his points. My brain fixated on the Jewish comparison, so I'd like to reread it along with The Flying Camel and see if I come up with anything interesting. Honestly, it's not like that's all there was the book - I'm kind of exasperated with myself. Also, I want to revisit it after reading more about Asian American literature. I'm coming at this without any context, and that can only hobble any attempt I make at real critical analysis.

What I need is someone to hold my hand by giving me reading questions or essay prompts. I wonder if my inability to analyze is rooted in my refusal to feel passionate about anything I read. If I don't feel for it, I won't take a stance on anything.

Statement of Intent. :D

2009-05-02T02:54:41Z

Okay, so, I'm going to use this for something. Not sure what yet, but I will. There are a lot of things I'm interested in, and sometimes it gets crowded in one journal, so give me a few days.

I think Sephiran will have to be my default icon, because I love him so much~

EDIT: I don't know about these kanji moods. >_>

EDIT SPAWN: the verdict is, pretentious book blogging.