this ain't livin'

Well, the Book Project is officially a half-year old, which is cause for celebration, I think. I tell you what, I didn’t realize the scope of insanity that embarking on the Book Project really entailed when I offhandedly talked about it with a friend in December. It really is hard to write about every single book I read in a year, since sometimes I just don’t have that much to say about books, and I read a fair amount of trash.

At any rate, in June I read 30 books, an average of one a day, and 11,441 pages, roughly 381 pages a day. I also read some pretty good books in June. New books that I read and liked included Skeletons at the Feast, The Mourner’s Dance, Lady Lazarus, The Cloud Atlas, and Invisible Monsters. I also enjoyed re-reading City of Quartz, and it’s safe to say that The Almost Moon was the worst book I read in June. I’m having a tough time deciding what my favourite book was, though, because I really did read some good books in June. I may have to go with Lady Lazarus, just because it was so rich and complex, and I am really glad that Vicki recommended it to me.

Of course, no half year review is complete without, you know, a half year review.

So far, I have read 176 books in 2008, and 59,249 pages. I read the most books in March, when I read 40 books, and 13,174 pages. January was the low point, with 21 books and 6,261 pages. My favourite books this year have been The Sparrow, This is the Way the World Ends, Dracula, Everything Conceivable, Nation of Rebels, and Lady Lazarus. This is the Way the World Ends was, hands down, the best book I read this year. It’s just that awesome. And I am pleased to note that three of the books I loved this year were recommended by people, while two were re-reads, and one was a book that just caught my eye at the library one day. I think that’s a nice, diverse cross section.

One thing that the Book Project has done is introduce me to all sorts of books I would never have read, and I’m really grateful for that. I haven’t liked all of the books sent to me or recommended so far, but I’ve loved some of them, and I’m glad I had the chance to read them. It’s also been very interesting to track my reading habits, and to examine what I read, and when, and why.

If you want to recommend books for me to read, please add them to the comments on this (and any other) Book Project post. You can also email me (meloukhia at gmail dot com) if you’re feeling shy. I pledge to make an earnest attempt to read every single book which is recommended to me this year.

If you really want me to read something, you can send it to me:

s.h. smith

po box 2764

fort bragg, california, 95437

I am also happy to return books which people want to lend to me; if you lend me a book through the mail, include a note to let me know that you want it back when I’m done.

One thing about not being able to go outdoors is that I got rather a lot of reading done, although I had to battle with Mr. Bell for custody of the chair. I tell you what, competition for the chair can be quite vicious, especially when restless cats are involved. At any rate, this weekend I read books 172-176, and I ate a lot of shrimp curry.

Black Swan Green

This book was recommended by Haddock, via Kris, so I guess I have to give both of them credit for the fact that I read it. I have to say, I rather liked it. Something about coming of age novels from England gets me all giddy, and the setting of the 1980s was particularly interesting. Thatcher’s England. The Falklands War.

One thing about the book that I really liked is that each chapter stood alone as its own story. While the chapters did string together, and clearly followed a plot line, they could also be read independently, and I rather dug that. The use of language was also quite interesting; I like how Mitchell played with the concept of the narrator’s stutter, using it as a plot device without being all overt about it, and while I don’t normally like books written in the first person, it worked for Black Swan Green.

This might be one of the better books I’ve read this month, and I have a sense that I will be returning to it at some point in the future. And I’m also going to order the right Cloud Atlas so I can read that, too.

Demographics:

Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell. Published 2006, 294 pages. Fiction.

Monday Mourning

I needed some cheesy mystery novels to flesh out my book table, so I grabbed a couple of Kathy Reichs books. There’s not a lot to say about mystery procedurals, except that these are rather interesting because Kathy Reichs is a real live honest to god forensic anthropologist, and that, I think, makes a big difference. There’s a note she strikes that other mystery writers don’t, because they just don’t have the experience. Small details from her career experiences make the books that much more alive and real.

I’m also a fan of Bones, the television series which is very loosely based on Reichs’ books, although it almost seems based more on her career than the books. Pretty much the only consistent thing between the books and the series is the lead character’s name. I think I like the Temperance Brennan of Bones much better than the Temperance Brennan of the books. The book Tempe seems like a bit of a dolt, honestly, running around doing very unbright things.

But it does make me add “forensic anthropologist” to my long list of “careers that would be neat to have someday.”

Demographics:

Monday Mourning, by Kathy Reichs. Published 2004, 305 pages. Fiction.

Nowtopia

The revolution is here, argues Chris Carlsson, and he wrote a book to prove it. It’s a pretty neat book, covering all manner of subversive behaviour in communities across the United States, from guerilla gardening to bicycle activism. It’s also a well-researched and interesting history, and while I don’t totally agree with the conclusion that the revolution is underway, it was still an interesting book.

I would argue that instead the book was a fascinating collection of profiles of people on the fringes of society who are trying to make a difference in the best ways they know how. But it’s not revolution until the people rise up as a popular collective. Sure, Nowtopia could be considered inspirational and all, but it’s only going to be read by people who are already engaging in revolutionary activity, so I’m not sure how much it accomplishes, honestly.

In a way, the book really illustrated the huge gulf between the thriving subculture, and the reality of American culture. Yes, people are doing things that are amazingly cool, but how much of a difference does it really make, when the vast majority of Americans aren’t paying attention?

Demographics:

Nowtopia, by Chris Carlsson. Published 2008, 278 pages. Sociology.

Deja Dead

The first book in the Temperance Brennan series, and it shows. Deja Dead is clunky, a bit overstuffed, and obviously struggling to find its footing, but it’s not necessarily a bad book. I think it laid solid groundwork for the rest of the series, establishing characters and issues so that they can be developed later. Obviously, it’s highly autobiographical, but there’s no need to view that as a bad thing. After all, Kathy Reichs has a pretty interesting life, and she can’t write about it explicitly for ethical and legal reasons, so why not fictionalize it?

One flaw with these books, I think, is the sense of overwrought tension. Granted, I’ve only read two, and I’m not, you know, chomping at the bit to read the rest of the series, but there does seem to be a sense of constant, stressful tension in the books that makes them a bit unpleasant to read, because it’s like this never-ending barrage. What will happen next? Goodness gracious!

Anyway, for those who haven’t read anything by Reichs, but enjoy reading good procedurals, I would recommend taking a peek at the series.

Demographics:

Deja Dead, by Kathy Reichs. Published 1997, 411 pages. Fiction.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I’ve been working my way through the Harry Potters again on the side, in the midst of reading other books, because the last time I read them all in a row was last summer, right before Deathly Hallows came out. I wrote about the book right after I finished it last year, and now that I’ve read it again, I have a few things to add. I said last year that it was “my favourite,” and I’m going to have to rescind that. I liked Deathly Hallows, but I don’t think it’s the best, because it was poorly edited, and it felt very rushed, and I absolutely loathe the epilogue, which, I believe I have said elsewhere, reads like a piece of fan fiction.

Yes, the story found resolution in Deathly Hallows, but it was also wrapped up almost too neatly, especially courtesy of the epilogue. I like long series that leave you wondering about what’s going to happen to the characters in the coming years of their lives, allowing you to continue building on the story after it ends, and we weren’t given a chance to do that at the end of Deathly Hallows, which was all wrapped up with a neat, tidy bow.

Deathly Hallows certainly confirms my ideas about the weakness of Ron’s character. I know that some people think that Ron redeems himself by returning, in the end, but I think that his actions can’t quite be forgiven that easily, and that’s going to be a wedge in their relationships for the rest of their lives. Yes, coming back is better than never returning, and yes, Ron contributes hugely to the outcome of the story, but the fact that he left at all is always going to be there, in the background, whether or not people like it.

And I thought Harry really developed some spirit and spine, making difficult choices and all. I love the scene where he shames Lupin for abandoning Tonks, while Ron and Hermione don’t seem to understand how passionately Harry feels.

Of course, what the book is really about (what the whole series is about) is the redemption of Snape. And I’m not sure how it is that I can be so hard on Ron when Snape has done much more evil things, but there it is. I respect Snape as a courageous and determined character who tried to atone for what he did, although true atonement can never be reached, and I still maintain that he is the most interesting and complex character in the whole series. Too bad there will be no Snape spinoff.

Demographics:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling. Published 2007, 759 pages. Fiction.

Apparently more than one book is named The Cloud Atlas, and I actually ordered the wrong Cloud Atlas, as I discovered when I picked this book up at the library. But I decided to read it anyway, because, hey, it came all this way, and it might turn out to be interesting, and wouldn’t it be serendipitous if I ended up liking a book I ordered accidentally? At least, that was my logic.

And I actually did end up liking this book. I don’t know if I would wax quite as poetic as some of the reviews on the back cover did, but it was a good book. It was an interesting story, and it was well crafted, and it had a hint of the mysterious and mystical, which I rather liked.

What would have happened if the Japanese had launched a major attack on the Pacific Coast in the form of explosives-laden balloons? That’s the centerpiece of the book, and it’s an interesting idea; in The Cloud Atlas, of course, the military decides to hush the whole affair up, and that’s where our tortured and confused main character comes in.

This is a book of stories within stories, and complex scenes with indiscernible undercurrents. I liked that most of the characters are imperfect, and that they spend their lives regretting this mistakes. Alaska, where most of the book takes place, is also a very interesting landscape to play with, and I like what Callanan did with it. Not having been to Alaska, of course, it’s easy to fall prey to the Great Alaskan Mystique, and this book definitely cultivated that, but it wasn’t heavy handed or intrusive, so I didn’t mind too much. It’s the sort of story which seemed like it could only unfold in the far reaches of the North, after all, so why not Alaska?

Demographics:

The Cloud Atlas, by Liam Callanan. Published 2004, 360 pages. Fiction.