15 posts tagged “fiction”
"What's particle physics?" asked Bod.
Scarlett shrugged. "Well," she said. "There's atoms, which is things that is too small to see, that's what we're all made of. And there's things that's smaller than atoms, and that's particle physics."
Bod nodded and decided that Scarlett's father was probably interested in imaginary things.
-- "The New Friend"
And they are, for the most part, done with the world. You are not. You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name.
-- "Nobody Owens' School Days"
Finished: 27-June 2008
Story Synopsis:
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse -- Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon, a mystery unfolds and together with his friends -- one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena -- Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
Commentary:
Okay, let's get this out of the way now -- yes, this book will remind you a lot of Harry Potter. Even the author, Rick Riordan, is perfectly aware of the comparisons between Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling's boy wizard.
But barring that, The Lightning Thief is a good book and a fun read nonetheless. I think most people enjoy Greek mythology, and Riordan's riff on the Olympians living in the modern world is just plain inspired. Anybody who's even remotely familiar with the mythology will pick up on the references right away; it's even more fun to try to the guess on the character before he/she/it is fully introduced.
Riordan's writing is also faster, snappier than your average YA writer's. He doesn't waste time explaining all of the intricacies of his universe -- that'll come along eventually -- but takes you head-first into the action. Percy's not a bad protagonist either. He's somewhat reckless and impulsive, but hey, he is a 12-year old boy. I had a teensy bit of whiff of some Gary Stu traits (e.g. how awesome he is with the sword, etc.) but I guess it's easily explained by the fact that he is a demigod.
Liked this a whole lot, and it may be worth checking out the rest of the series.
Obtained: New York Public Library
Finished: sometime in May
Quickie review: Diana Wynne Jones is possibly one of the more well-known fantasy writers of her generation, and this reputation is well-deserved from reading the two books that comprise this first volume of The Chronicles of Chrestomanci. Her characters are deftly written, and are quite lovable despite many wacky quirks (see: Christopher Chant). I'm personally not fond of her usual retreat into a deux en machina ending, but after reading a few of her books, I'm thinking that this is probably a common occurrence and I should start getting used to it by now.
Obtained: New York Comic-Con
Finished: sometime in May
Quickie review: For such a small and short title, this book took me forever to finish. I think pulling out my wisdom teeth was a shorter and more pleasant experience. Momo is a shinigami, aka the Japanese version of the Grim Reaper. Except she's not very grim at all. She shows up, the bell on her scythe tinkling, to let people know that it's time. The book is composed of several stories of people who are going to die, or who have somebody close to them dying, all of their tales linked by Momo's appearance in their lives. The idea could have been so incredible and poignant, but my enjoyment of this book was marred by the not-so great writing. I hate the book's omniscient narrator. I hate omniscient narrators, period. This is a rare case where the translation is probably perfect, but the problem really lies in the original source material, which isn't that awesome to begin with.
Obtained: Queens Public Library
Finished: sometime in May
Quickie review: I think Marjane Satrapi is one of those people who are blessed with many moments of genius. I enjoyed Persepolis, but there were some parts of the books that dragged. So that's why I approached Embroideries with a bit of caution, not really wanting a repeat of my previous experience with her work.
For the record, I don't think I've laughed harder at any comic that I've read in these so many months. Satrapi is great when she's naughty and chatty, like the same ladies that she depicts in this book. When she gets too serious and political, it feels to me that she's doing that merely for the sake of being serious and political. I think she gets the point across either way, so if humor is the way to get it done, then she should stick to that. I wish she would have a follow-up for this book too.
Obtained: New York Comic-Con
Finished: 22-April 2008
Story Synopsis:
Twelve-year-old Julie has grown up hearing about the dangerous world of
fairy tales, 'The Wild', from which her mother, Rapunzel, escaped.
Now The Wild wants its characters back. Julie comes home from school to find her mother gone and a deep, dark forest swallowing her hometown. Julie must fight wicked witches, avoid glass slippers and fairy godmothers, fly griffins, and outwit ogres in order to rescue her mom and save her Massachusetts town from becoming a fairy-tale kingdom.
Commentary:
So what happens when fairy tale characters don't stay inside the books? What happens when they're real, living people -- possibly our neighbors even -- inhabiting our world right here and right now?
No, this isn't Fables. But it definitely draws from the same idea pool that seems to be prevalent in popular literature right now.
Julie Marchen is Rapunzel's daughter. She knows her mom is THAT Rapunzel, and that her grandmother is the witch who imprisoned her in the tower, but other than a few other sketchy details about their past and about the Wild (which is a crazy plant-like parasite living under bed), she essentially knows nothing. Julie's an interesting study because she isn't too heavily upset or worried about her family's "secret." It is what it is. It's more of an annoyance than anything else, but hey, all teens have to deal with some sort of craziness in their lives, right? Some people have skeletons in their closet, she just happens to have a beanstalk.
When the Wild goes, umm, wild and takes over their town, Julie has to decide whether to rescue her mother (and in the process, break every rule that she was told about dealing with the Wild) or to run away as far as she can. Guess which one she picks?
Silly personal anecdote: when I was waiting for Shannon Hale to sign a poster of her upcoming graphic novel Rapunzel's Revenge, I realized that Sarah Beth Durst, the author of Into the Wild, was standing behind me. I think I fawned for a bit, and said that I was looking forward to having her sign my copy of her book.
It's cute how these two authors are doing their own interpretations of a character who has not been my favorite. In Durst's novel, Rapunzel is practically a revolutionary, the one who led the other fairy tale characters out of captivity, out of the repetitive and never-ending cycle of redoing their stories. And that's possibly why I've been drawn to reading all these fairytale retellings -- it's fun to see how many versions of these archetypal tales writers could churn out, and how they redo the stories based on their experience or imagination.
I was able to get an ARC of the next book. I started it yesterday and it already looks as good as the first.
Finished: 7-February 2008
Story Synopsis:
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.
Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.
Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.
Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war....
Commentary:
I know that I have to be the worst kind of internet geek NOT to have heard of Cory Doctorow. I guess I'm getting dumber in my old age, because I seriously did not associate the BoingBoing editor with the sci-fi writer -- I thought they were two guys who just happened to have the same name.
Anyway, the book... Honestly, I found it underwhelming. I liked the ideas that he presented -- society that has eliminated death and scarcity, where one's "material" worth (he calls it "whuffie") is directly proportional to the amount of respect other people have for you -- but there was something in the execution that I didn't care for.
Maybe I'll try another one of his novels if I have the time and/or motivation. Right now, though, I think he's more amusing in blog form.
Obtained: FrugalReader
Finished: 8-February 2008
Story Synopsis:
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is an enchanting tale that captures the magic of reading and the wonder of romantic awakening. An immediate international bestseller, it tells the story of two hapless city boys exiled to a remote mountain village for re-education during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. There the two friends meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, the two friends find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined.
Commentary:This was one of those novels where I had no prior knowledge of the book prior to reading it. I think I've seen it on the B&N "recommended fiction" tables a few times, but there was nothing so spectacular about it that made me want to get it then & there.
So, when it was offered on FrugalReader, I just grabbed it merely because I was craving another Asian-themed book (one can only read and re-read Banana Yoshimoto so many times).
Two young men are sent for re-education to the Chinese countryside for re-education during the Cultural Revolution. The narrator and his friend Luo are sons of a doctor and a dentist, respectively, so living among the peasants in a remote mountain area of China is essentially an exile from the world that they've known. They're subjected to humbling tasks, such as transporting fertilizer (okay, pig manure) to the fields and to crawling naked in the mines to collect coal. Eventually, they obtain the 'honor' to be the village's storytellers -- where the commune leader tells them to go to the next big town, watch the movie showing, and then recount the story to the rest of the community back on the mountain.
At this same time, they make the acquaintance of the daughter of the local tailor, the Little Seamstress. Both are smitten by her beauty and charm, even though Luo takes it a step forward and forms a romantic relationship with her. Around this time, they also obtain a slim volume of Balzac from another boy going through re-education in the next town. Inspired at the effect their storytelling has on the peasants, they decide to 're-educate' the Little Seamstress in their own way, by exposing her to Western literature and thinking.
I never expected to enjoy this novel this much. It's a very slim work, but it achieves its point in its brevity. I know this isn't the first novel that I've read that extols the transformative quality of reading and of literature, but the manner the novel goes about it is beautiful. I think I love the ending sentence most of all.
High recommendations for this novel. I'm sure the original French work has same oomph, if not more.
Ultimately, though, it's living people that frighten me the most. It's always seemed to me that nothing could be scarier than a person, because as dreadful places can be, they're still just places; and no matter how awful ghosts might seem, they're just dead people. I always thought that the most terrifying things anyone could ever think up were the things living people came up with.
Obtained: Library
Finished: 27-November 2007
Story Synopsis:
Layla Mitchner is a twenty-eight-year-old Cordon Bleu graduate trying to carve out a space for herself in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of Manhattan’s top restaurant kitchens. She knows she’s got the talent to be a great chef, but there she is slaving for a misogynistic boss who’d sooner promote the dishwasher than give a woman the chance to prove her sous-chef mettle. And while Layla knows that the dwindling balance in her bank account won’t begin to cover what she owes her roommate, she’s desperate not to seek help from her self-absorbed, serially divorced, soap-opera-actress mother.
Her romantic prospects seem no brighter. She gets set up with a nice enough guy, but his tassel loafers and corporate demeanor reek of the WASP aristocracy she’s determined to leave behind. After continuously striking out, she meets a musician who appears to be the bohemian Mr. Right of her dreams, only to find he may be more deadbeat than heartthrob. But Layla refuses to settle for anything short of true love and success, and she ultimately finds both where she least expects them.
Hannah McCouch’s fresh and animated voice leaps off the pages of Girl Cook, a deliciously modern Cinderella story of love, sex, chefs, and the city.
Commentary:
Book started off great -- Layla's a no-nonsense cook who's stuck working for misogynistic chef who doesn't think women have what it takes to make it in the kitchen. This book felt like it was the spiritual chick lit sibling of Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential -- complete with the drugs, illegal immigrants, and booze.
Then, somewhere along the way, the author remembered that she was actually writing a novel directed at women... so if she didn't get to the requisite relationship angst soon, then there would be no way that chicks would read this stuff.
Truthfully, it's the relationship-y parts of the story that I liked the least.
Though, I have to say, I do appreciate the fact that this is the first chick lit that I've read where the girl is actually suffering for money. She's a cook in NY -- so yes to the roommate, the credit card anxiety, the drinking of cheap booze. I never understood how other chick lit novels could have heroines working as temps are able to afford one-bedroom apartments of their own in Manhattan. That's why I liked this novel -- I could tell that the author actually lived here and know what exactly is going on. Bonus points for references to actual restaurants and locations too.
Obtained: Bookmooch
Finished: 19-Sept 2007
Story synopsis:
Rowena, the youngest of twelve sisters, loves to slip out of the castle at night and dance in a magical forest. Soon she convinces her sisters to join her. When Sir Ethan notices that his daughters' slippers look tattered every morning, he is certain they've been sneaking out. So he posts a challenge to all the suitors in the kingdom: The first man to discover where his daughters have been is free to marry the one he chooses.
Meanwhile a handsome young knight named Bedivere is involved in a challenge of his own: to return the powerful sword, Excalibur, to a mysterious lake. While looking for the lake, Bedivere meets the beautiful Rowena and falls for her. Bedivere knows that accepting Sir Ethan's challenge is the only opportunity for him to be with Rowena forever. But this puts both Bedivere and Rowena in a dangerous situation...one in which they risk their lives for a chance at love.
Commentary:Seriously, I don't know why I've only found out about this series just now.
The "Once Upon a Time" series (published by Simon Pulse) features fairly-well known young adult authors as they reinterpret many of the more popular "fairy tales" that we all read as children. This particular volume focuses on the story "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," with an Arthurian twist.
And, if you didn't know already, I'm a sucker for an Arthurian reinterpretation of any story. Especially if it involves either Galahad or (in this case) Bedivere.
It's been a while since I've enjoyed a romance novel. It's too cute how Rowena and Bedivere are so infatuated with each other, even though they've never met each other before -- but hey, it is a fairy tale so true love at first sight and all that.
Yes, the characterizations are shallow. But think about it, since the author is drawing on the tradition of the Arthurian characters, so it's almost unnecessary for her to flesh out these same characters yet again when even a novice to Arthurian literature could easily identify who's who. Like, really, do we have to go into how manipulative and ambitious Morgan Le Fay is? Or how noble and chivalrous Bedivere is? Not really.
A short and sweet novel, guaranteed to appeal to the sap in all of us.
Found out about this movie while surfing through random blogs. I'm a not-so secret fan of Keira Knightley, and this film looks to be something more in-depth than the other movie that she's done in years. Somewhat disappointed that I have to wait till December to see it (even though it's currently playing in the UK right now).
