NerdBliss

Do you keep a list of the books you’ve read? How? In a journal? Through one of the online services? If so, WHY? To keep good records for future reference? To make sure you don’t accidentally reread? If not, why not? Too eager to move on to the next book? Too lazy? Never thought to bother?

I do, in fact, keep a list of the books I’ve read here in the sidebar of my blog. Once the year changes over, I will create a new list for 2013. On my old blog, I had tracked several years worth of books, but sadly those lists are gone. If I’d planned better, I would have copied them over before letting the domain and hosting go.

It has occurred to me just now it may be possible to retrieve those long lost pages via one of those archival sites and, low and behold, WaybackMachine came up with it. I will be adding those records here on NerdBliss. It’s slightly creepy an entire blog I no longer want to keep is still available in a dark corner of the internet, but I’ll take it. By the time anyone reads this post, I will have added links for 2008, 2009, and 2010 reading lists.

It is a harder question to answer why I’m compelled to keep this record of my literary habits. I do link to reviews I’ve written as I go along, but in all honesty I do not keep up with reviewing most of what I read.

I have occasionally looked back at the lists for one reason or another, but nothing so urgent I could pinpoint why. Nor do I aim to avoid rereading. I often read books a second time. There are books I’ve read every few years since I discovered them. For a few books, that’s been more than twenty years.

The only reasonable answer is I keep the lists of books I’ve read as a record of my personal history. Reading is more than a hobby. It is something I need as much as oxygen. I wouldn’t know how to conduct my life without books. Having a list to look back upon gives me satisfaction that I am spending my time wisely and accomplishing something.

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Yes, famous “wild and crazy guy” Steve Martin writes wonderfully thoughtful, witty and delightful books. My previous experience with his writing was an essay collection called Pure Drivel full of weird and wonderful ideas with lots of wordplay.

Going into The Pleasure of my Company I expected good and some level of funny, but I’ve got to say I loved this book far more than I expected.

Our first person narrator Daniel is extremely neurotic, obviously obsessive compulsive and intellectually gifted. It is unclear in the beginning how “crazy” or even dangerous he might be. Certainly, his perception of reality is not normal, but it is through his eyes we see is very limited world.

Daniel lives in a small Santa Monica apartment, his every move ruled by his “habits.” For one thing, he cannot step down over curbs, but must only cross the street where matching cut out circles of driveways pair up on both sides of the street. He also needs to have the wattage of his light bulbs balanced out mathematically. He is obsessed with magic squares which he can fill out without a formula and off the top of his head.

As the story unfolds, Daniel’s isolation cannot last. His life expands to include people he had only observed from the outside. His neighbors, a real estate agent he watches show apartments across the street, the pharmacist at Rite Aid and the therapy student who comes for sessions each week all play an increasing roll in his life. All along, Daniel’s “habits” are pushed to accommodate his changing life. It is unclear wither he will allow for change or retreat from the world.

One of the best things about the book is how true Daniel’s voice rings without making his issues define him. Seeing his internal thought process makes his weird way of thinking seem rational at least in the confines of his perceptions. It is all so vivid. I can’t help but suspect Steve Martin is a bit neurotic himself.

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I thought it might be fun to post a record of the ebooks I’ve bought over the month of October. Not read, just what has gone through my Amazon account. I’m not sure if there will be a list for November. I’m going to go on with this month’s list, but I’m not sure I want to know how much I spend or even just how many books I buy in a month. Some people would rather spend their disposable income on trailer hitches for cars. Me, I want a digital library to rival the Great Library at Alexandria.

Between Kindle Daily Deal and monthly 100 under $3.99, I knew I’d picked up more than a few titles. Add the small number of regular price books I can mostly blame Chris for and October was a big month for book buying in our house.

Yeah. A couple books:

A bunch of Philip K. Dick novels were all the Daily Deal one day:

The Man in the High Castle

Ubik

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

The Simulacra

VALIS

Now Wait for Last Year

The Penultimate Truth

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (Valis)

The Divine Invasion (Valis)

Counter-Clock World

Eye in the Sky

Some Kindle Singles from TED:

When I’m 164: The New Science of Radical Life Extension, and What Happens If It Succeeds (Kindle Single) (TED Books)

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story deeply implanted in our cultural psyche. To me, it makes reading the original story all the more complicated. It is hard to separate my preconceived notions from the story as it was written. A couple years ago, my best friend Kate and I both read the story in a semi-successful effort to be our own book club and catch up on some classics. I enjoyed the story, but Kate had the passionate opinion, so back in February 2010, she wrote a review for my old blog. I’m going to publish it here because I like it.

Now for some thoughts from Kate, who you can find on Twitter @Katerbell81:

People assume I’m smart and I never correct them. Thus, I felt connected to Dr. J in his self-imposed virtuous exile. People assume he’s nice and he has never corrected them. He simply doesn’t want to be good anymore. Really, who can blame him? Nice people has massive amounts of expectations placed upon them. They must not just be nice but nice ALL the time and to EVERYone. Nice people never turn to the ever present annoying person and say, “Do you like games? I’ve got a great new game. It’s called hide and go f— yourself. You start.” So Dr. J is simply finding a way to express his dual nature and we get an amazing view on the human condition. Mr. H is malnourished and (unlike his movie star likeness) short, diminished, and ill-fit. I enjoy this view as it greatly demonstrates the restraint Dr J has maintained. The book is not a favorite and I probably won’t revisit it. The story lacks rhythm and flow for me. We are simply told Dr. J has desires and impulses, but they are never fleshed out. The implied is they are sexual in nature but without description or detail I am left wondering. Is Dr. J into some odd S&M fantasy? under-aged girls? or horror upon horror for a prominent man of the era is he simply gay? All we the readers are sure of is the separation of good and evil allows for Mr H to displace Dr J as the man in charge, thus eventually resulting in death. Personally I find Dr J to be weak in the story. He wants to allow his inner desires to be fulfilled but creates not an alter ego that he can exercise control over but an entire different being so as to avoid culpability. Smacks of wussy behavior and leaves me doubting his inherit goodness from the start. Reading this paragraph I notice several contradictions, I have decided to allow them to stand as is. I am my own Hyde.

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I loved The Red Tent so much I read a second time immediately upon finishing it.

The story is the intimate tale of woman living in early Biblical times. Told in the voice of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, Diamant wove the tale around a much storied family from the Book of Genesis. The fictional account fleshes out the people, women and men, who are often little more than names in the Biblical narrative. The strongest thread within the story is the memory of women passed down by the bonds of family, knowledge, and love.

The very details Genesis lacks are what make The Red Tent extraordinary. I could nearly taste the olives, smell sun warmed skin, feel sand under my feet. I could imagine myself among the women in the red tent welcoming the new moon and celebrating the cycles of our bodies. In these close quarters rivalries are put aside. Traditions and wisdom are transmitted to the next generation while men are not around.

I shared joy and sorrow over the birth stories of each child begotten to Jacob with details to which only the woman attending the birth would be privy. I’ve always have trouble reading the great lists of genealogy in Genesis. I could not help thinking if women had set down the history destined to become the Bible, no child would have been listed with name alone without some remembrance of their humanity.

While the novel illuminates the lives of three generations of Abraham’s descendants, even those with no background in Jeudo-Christian traditions would find much in The Red Tent to enthrall. I was taken in prologue by this:

“If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and listen carefully.”

Even into the dust of history, our collective mothers have made womanhood what it is today. It is a proud heritage we share across cultural divides.

Modern feminism would have us remember our foremothers as weak and subjugated, pitiable creatures with little more place in culture than the animals their men domesticated. I do not dispute the fact of lesser status and many injustices existing in nearly every civilization throughout history. However, limiting our understanding of ancient women to that is disrespectful and narrow minded.

The Red Tent helps us remember the strength it took to thrive in the conditions in which they lived. In the Western world, it is unthinkable to imagine bring babies into the world knowing only a few would likely survive birth and childhood. They were aware how dangerous childbearing was back then. Each woman lived with the knowledge she risked her life to be a mother. Even the most skilled midwife had few tools at her disposal; herbs for medication, a knife, and her experienced hands.

A woman like Leah, Jacob’s first wife and mother of many, would continue to endure these risks. Without these brave mothers, humanity could have easily died out by the gift of reason that sets our species apart. I do not buy the idea that they had looser emotional ties to their children than we do now that the death of a child is relatively rare. No, these children were precious and loved, or they would not have been conceived at such a high cost. Choosing to bear children was the ultimate gift of love passed down to modern mankind.

In the book, it is very clear that the men tend the goats and sheep, then sit around telling tall tales and drinking beer. The women run the household, process the wool, tend the garden, harvest and process olives, grow grapes for wine, and brew beer, plus the traditional childcare and cooking. Still think working woman are a modern concept?

They did the doctoring even beyond midwifery. Diamant writes about the women caring for Jacob after he wrestles with a stranger in the dessert. He limped for the rest of his days, but he survived his injuries and walked thanks to the women of his household. With knowledge of herbs medicinal properties to rival any pharmaceutical scientist, complains of pain or upset stomach were made to the elder women of the family. They may not have had modern diagnostic techniques like at home paternity test, but their cures for aliments were the basis of medicine before men began studying healing arts.

I encourage you to read The Red Tent, then share it with your mother, daughter, sister, or friend. Nothing I can say can describe the experience, but I know you will not be disappointed.

Modified from original post written on May 4, 2008.

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For the last 30 years, the American Library Association has celebrated Banned Book Week during the last week of September. Events at libraries and bookstores around the country focus on freedom of ideas.

Books make the ALAs lists when a school or library reports either the outright ban of a book or a request to ban, referred to as a “challenge.” Often, the reason boils down to trying to “protect children” from books. I’d rather our culture protect children from censorship. Parents should accept responsibility for guiding their children’s media consumption, hopefully allowing access to a range of viewpoints. Raising a child to be strong enough in his or her values to read about things that are counter to those values seems a better goal than sheltering them. More realistic, too. What better place than in a book to encounter new situations or kinds of people they’ve not met before?

Sometimes it is not a matter of denying children access to books for adults, but deny access to books for children for a variety of reasons. Sexuality, violence, drug use, and profanity are a among the reasons books are banned or challenged. Check out the Banned Book Week statistical data.

As a bookworm and a blogger, I want to highlight the banned and challenged books I’ve read and love. It is important, too, defend books we don’t like or may even find personally offensive. Defending freedom of speech and information, no matter how unpopular, protects us all.

Still, I’m going to give into the impulse to list banned books I recommend. If you’re looking for a way to celebrate banned books or support modern authors who’ve been banned, consider reading one of these gems. The links will take you to Amazon and I’m an affiliate, but what I care about is that people read good books.

Since attempts to ban books isn’t a past issue, I’m pulling the following list from the ALA Frequently Banned Books of the 21st Century. There are plenty of books I haven’t read and a few I read, but don’t necessarily recommend (looking at you, Twilight saga), but by all means, go check those out. You’ll also find some books make the top ten pretty much every year, like Brave New World which I just finished reading again for the first time since high school.

Full series challenged.

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It’s been a while since I played Monday Musings over at Should Be Reading, but I couldn’t resit this week’s prompt:

What is your least favorite book? Why?

My rule is I cannot consider a book my “least favorite” without having finished it. How could I judge properly without trudging though to the last page?

With partially read books out, the next type of book that doesn’t make the cut for the dubious honor or “least favorite” is the type of bad book which didn’t leave an impression. Dozens of books, but mostly various mysteries and romances (or some “women’s fiction), fall into this category. I don’t like them and if they or their author comes up I will explain my dislike, but that’s not a “least favorite.”

No, a “least favorite” book ends up a memorable bottom of the heap because it should have been a good book. I went in to it with high expectations or it is a notable book. I have two books which qualify as my least favorite books. One I read for school. One I read because it’s an important book. Both are classics. I think both of them suck.

Ready. Set. Judge my judgement:

I loathed William Faulkner when I read As I Lay Dying and several of his short stories in high school English. Now, remember, I’m a big nerd and I enjoyed most of the books I read for classes. It wasn’t the stream of consciousness writing that bothered me or even the multiple viewpoints or the colloquial Southern dialect. Faulkner depressed me because his characters are poor, ignorant, abused and abusive. Not a one of them hopes for more or even sees maybe the life they lead isn’t the only possible way to live. An entire family – who’s inner thoughts we are privy to – and not a one is a good or kind person by any definition. None were redeemable nor did they seem to understand they might need redeeming. Not only do I doubt such lack of loving souls exists, even if they do, I sure don’t want to read about them.

The reason I feel justified in co-billing my least favorite books is that I read Wuthering Heights
in my early twenties for pleasure and personal growth. I slogged through to the bitter end because I have a complex about classic books and the fear I don’t like them because I’m not smart enough to “get” the big important book. Much like I didn’t like As I Lay Dying, because it was about a family who stuck together despite the fact they weigh each other down with dysfunction and unhappiness. Wuthering Heights takes two families with all their hate and spite for each other and mix in horrible, sick excuses for romantic love. All the people who hold up Heathcliff and Catherine as an example of love, beautiful and true, puzzle me greatly. The cruelty, the secrets and lies – if your best friend was in a relationship with someone who acted like either of them, you’d advise them to get out ASAP and it was not simply a matter of a different era. If not for the expectation of a romance for the ages, I would have liked the book marginally better, but I still would have had issues with how awful all the characters behave toward each other. Same as As I Lay Dying, I did not feel a kinship or able to “root for” anyone in the novel, which is purely a matter of taste, but I would prefer to go the rest of my life without reading another such book.

After I’ve spelled out why I can’t stand my co-least-favored books, tell me: Does anyone think I am too harsh on the above novels? What am I missing in my distaste for two pieces of classic literature?

2 Comments | In: books | tags: books, musing monday. | #

I have spent a lot of time thinking about Ender’s Game since I finished it, yet in some ways I am at a loss to articulate exactly why I enjoyed the book. Clearly, I did as I am currently reading the fourth book in the series, but more on that a little later as this post is about Ender’s Game alone. I want to write something about this very important science fiction novel, so I am endeavoring so set down some thoughts. I’ve even gone so far as to read some negative reviews on Amazon in an attempt to solidify my opinions.

I can count at least three reasons Ender and the universe he lives in have occupied such a prominent place in my mind beyond continuing the series. First, I started reading Ender after Chris downloaded and started reading it. Sharing a Kindle account, we can read the same book at the same time. I love that. Having someone to talk to about a book while reading it is a new experience and delightful. Secondly, Ender’s Game is so filled with the themes and devices of science fiction literature. Comparing and contrasting with other science fiction universes is inevitable and never ending fun.

Third – most important – is how I can’t get over how revolutionary Card’s vision of the future was at the time the book was published in 1985. Earth hasn’t been attacked by aliens, but the ubiquity of portable devices with internet access is dead on. Card has characters on the “net” discussing and influencing world events on a global scale. I remember computers in 1985 and it is hard to imagine those machines being used in such an operation. As I ended up pointed out in response to one of those negative Amazon reviews, that portion of the book seems like no big deal because we live in a world where such a thing is believable and commonplace.

The other major criticism some readers have seems to be the center of it’s plot: Earth is under treat from alien forces and is training super-intelligent children to command humanity’s defense forces. Ender is one of those children. He is taken from his family at the tender age of six for Battle School. These children are organized into armies to fight mock battles in a zero gravity chamber. Adult supervision is minimal. These kids do not act like kids or even view themselves as children. Had I not read others criticism of how the children behave and talk, I would have not thought it unusual. Gifted children don’t talk like children, after all, nor view themselves as less than adults, however they do lack emotional control as high IQ does not advance them in other areas. These children are frighteningly smart and their whole world is built around a military structure. I found them quite believable.

My only criticism of the novel is how it ended. First published as a novella, Ender’s Game was expanded to novel length and to allow for a connection to the next three books. I somewhat regret reading the forward to my Kindle additions of both Ender’s Game and, the second book, Speaker for the Dead, as hearing the back story impacted by view of both books including seeing the end as a little “tacked on” as Card revealed the idea for Speaker didn’t originally feature Ender at all. As I do highly recommend the book and not wish to spoil it for others, I will only say I consider the end to be a “bridge” between the original and Speaker to be separate from Ender’s Game itself, but a necessary inclusion to allow the story to continue in the same universe and including Ender himself. I do agree Ender’s universe fits the story, but I would have divided things up a little different had it been my choice to make. Explaining where I would have made a change is a spoiler of the highest order, so I will not share here. Of course, I have talked about my preference for “companion books” over “series” and this preference informs my opinion in this case. While I see it as a flaw in the single novel, when taken together as a series, it is less of a problem.

The biggest strength in the book is, beside the prediction of internet impacting culture, the way Card asks philosophical questions about how the human race should conduct itself without drawing a conclusion for the reader. Wrapping the whole discussion up in a story about a boy who spends years fighting mock battles on a space station is impressive and, I have no doubt, influenced many readers who saw themselves in Ender. It bring to my mind a quote most dear to my heart, Issac Asimov quoted at the end of episode 200 of Stargate: SG1: “Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinded critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.” Ender’s Game lives up to those high ideals of science fiction.

No Comments | In: books | tags: book, books, Chris, Issac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, review, science fiction. | #

His name is Fowl. Artemis Fowl.

All that and he’s twelve years old.

Fowl is the evil hero of Eoin Colfer’s series of children’s novels.

I have written before about my overall dislike of the unlikeable protagonist and anti-hero, however I confess I make an exception for Fowl. He is the classic brainy villain that is dangerously simple to romanticize. Sort of a Dr. Evil for the middle school set.

In truth then, I dislike reading about characters who wallow pathetically in their unhappy, unsatisfying lives or crushing ignorance. Both of these problems are best exemplified in my utter loathing of William Faulkner’s writing.

I can enjoy, even relate too, a reprehensible person like Artemis. While he is “differently moralled” to say the least, he is not intentionally cruel. What he does is not always legal or moral, but I can understand someone who goes after what they want with all their resources. Think of the story if Richie Rich or Johnny Quest had sociopathic tendencies.

While I am fond of young Fowl, I see myself in Captain Holly Short. She’s a fairy, one of the “People” who are basically all the mythical creatures that humans don’t realize are real and living underground. Short is a member of the elite law enforcement group LEPrecon. As the first female LEPrecon officer, she has much to prove.

Fowl manages to kidnap Holly and plans to ransom her for gold.

I love how clever this book is with all the mythology and campy humor. Get this: the LEPrecon techie guy is a centaur named Foaly. Punny, very Punny.

There are five novels in this fun series, plus a companion book with two short stories and extras, and a graphic novel adaption. Much thanks to Kate for recommending the book. Now I’m hooked on them.

Originally published October 3, 2007 on my old blog.

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This post was originally published August 27, 2007 on my old blog. I’ve made some small changes and additions before presenting it here.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, first published in 1943, takes place in the years before the first world war. It is the story of Francie Nolan’s childhood as a poor child in a poor neighborhood. Her mother, Katie Nolen, is a true hard worker struggling to keep food on the table. Her father, Johnny Nolan, is a charming alcoholic singing waiter who everyone loves, but cannot be counted on by the family. Francie has a younger brother, Neeley, who is not as sensitive or smart as she is, but their relationship is mostly good.

I read my mother’s copy for the first time around fifth or sixth grade. While the novel follow Francie well into her adult life, I credit the book with beginning my passion for coming of age stories.

I related to Francie, because books are her best friends, and she doesn’t have an easy time making friends in school. She loves writing, is thoughtful and melancholy. My life might never have been tough life Francie’s, but I still felt like she did inside some of the time.

The other thing that brought me back many times over is the imagery of Betty Smith’s story telling. Everything is so vivid: the people, the places, the ideas. It’s the details that have stuck with me. Little things like Francie’s mom teaching her to order a piece of meat at the butcher shop then ask the butcher to grind it fresh, rather than letting him sell her the inferior pre-ground meat. Yet Katie Nolan also believes in a little bit of waste being good for the soul, so she makes coffee each day for each family member to have a cup. If the children just enjoy the warmth of the cup and the aroma, then so be it. It is their cup to enjoy and pour the rest down the drain if it comes to that.

I do believe that much of my understanding of compassion and human nature came from the books I read. Francie’s family is loving, but imperfect. Hardworking mom Katie can often be just plan hard toward Francie, partly because although she has always loved her husband, she wants Francie to have an easier time in life. She drives her away from boys and frivolity towards education and employment. My favorite of the extended family is Aunt Sissy who has lots of boyfriends and husbands. She’s buxom, passionate and plays with the kids with gusto. She is much frowned on in the neighborhood, and is in no way considered a good lady in that time period. I love her exuberance while knowing I am not a Sissy type of person. I worry about the consequences of my actions and endeavor not to make the same mistakes twice more like Katie. Of course, as a kid, I could only see myself in Francie, but that is the beauty of reading the same book throughout a lifetime.

Does anyone else have a favorite coming of age novel they’ve loved forever?

No Comments | In: books | tags: books, childhood, review. | #