We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Posted by melydia on April 30, 2013 No comment

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin: The cover of my copy of this book claims to be the most influential science fiction novel of the 20th century. I’m not convinced that’s the case, unless it influenced Orwell and Huxley and Bradbury and claims vicarious influence through them, because let’s face it: most people haven’t even heard of this book. It is indeed a dystopia, where people have willingly sacrificed their freedom and individuality in the name of happiness. Everyone has a letter and number instead of a name. Everyone’s actions are completely synchronized, down to each bite of food. All walls are transparent except during sex, which is restricted to certain hours of the day and only with a pre-approved coupon from your partner. When our protagonist, D503, meets the alluringly subversive I330, his world is turned upside-down. Unfortunately, the writing is kind of terrible. A good portion of the sentences end in ellipses, leading me to wonder if anybody in this world is capable of finishing a sentence. It leaves a whole bunch of stuff to inference. Maybe I’m just dense, but I had a lot of trouble figuring out what was going on. And then, after all that confusion, the ending still manages to be trite and predictable. There’s a reason why 1984 and Brave New World are more famous than this one: their plots and philosophies, at least, are possible to follow. If you read only one dystopian novel this year, choose something else.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Marbles by Ellen Forney

Posted by melydia on April 26, 2013 No comment

Marbles by Ellen Forney: It’s no secret that loads of famous artists suffered mental health problems, often severe and untreated. But will medication rob one of one’s creativity? What if the mental health issues are key to the art? In this unabashedly frank graphic memoir, Forney relates her adventures with bipolar syndrome, from diagnosis to eventual stability. Her ups and downs, as well as her fear of being “cured”, were very familiar to me, almost uncomfortably so. It made me want to read some of the other books Forney references, from The Unquiet Mind to biographies of various artists. This is a good book both for those suffering bipolar syndrome and for those hoping to understand the disease better from the outside. And, being a graphic work with drawings that somehow manage to be at once both simplistic and incredibly detailed, it’s a very quick read. I devoured it in two short evenings.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Every Day by David Levithan

Posted by melydia on April 23, 2013 No comment

Every Day by David Levithan (unabridged audiobook read by Alex McKenna; 8.5 hrs on 7 discs): I have very mixed feelings about this book. It says some very good things about acceptance, sexuality, and gender identity. It also says some very bad things about how to pursue a love interest. Every morning, A wakes up in the body of a different person, able to access their memories but not their emotions or consciousness. (Note: though A has no gender and inhabits both male and female bodies with equal ease, I will use male pronouns to make typing less cumbersome.) The body is always roughly his same age, and he lives in it only until midnight before moving on. (Though the switch happens at midnight, A always wakes up the next morning, implying that these kids never stay up past midnight or something.) He has no control over these switches, and mostly acts in order to make as little impact on the body’s life as possible – until one day when he inhabits the body of Justin, boyfriend of Rhiannon. A falls in love with Rhiannon, becomes convinced that she loves him too, and turns the lives of his subsequent hosts upside-down in his attempts to win her over, pretty much stalking her until she gives in. A few times I wanted to shout at A, “Just leave her alone already!” It was like A was completely incapable of having a conversation with Rhiannon that didn’t focus on his love for her and how Justin wasn’t good enough for her and blah blah blah. Yes, I know that teenagers are obsessive like that, but it got kind of tiresome. I wish the story had done more with Nathan and the Reverend, exploring the science fiction side of A’s existence as a wandering soul, but its narrow focus on the complicated romance rarely wavered. On the bright side, the writing was superb, and A’s experiences in so many different kinds of lives (from drug addict to immigrant house cleaner to transgendered person) were compelling, believable, and memorable. I also did really appreciate A’s views of gender identity and unconditional love, and Rhiannon’s reactions were quite realistic. Yes, there are people out there who could fall in love with someone who looked completely different every single day, but could you? The ending was dissatisfying, though I suppose it was good that A finally appeared to mature a little bit, even if he still couldn’t seem to muster any respect for his host bodies. I kind of hope there’s a sequel, if only to explore the premise a bit more and lay off the teen romance a tad.

A note on the audio: McKenna’s raspy voice took some getting used to, but ultimately it really worked.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Posted by melydia on April 19, 2013 No comment

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (unabridged audiobook read by the author; 5 hrs on 5 discs): I’ve never encountered a book so emotional. I went from laughing to crying to laughing in mere minutes. This is a “semi-autobiographical” novel, in that much of what happens to Arnold “Junior” Spirit, the protagonist and narrator, also happened to Alexie as a child. The frankness of a 14-year-old boy was often hilarious, while the tragedy of racism and alcoholism was simply heart-breaking. The ending was hopeful and satisfying, though, and I think this is an important book for children to read to introduce them to another lifestyle, or to remind them that they’re not alone. I’ve never lived near a reservation nor known anyone who lived on one, so this was quite an eye-opening account. I am definitely going to have to track down some of Alexie’s other works.

A note on the audio: It took me about twenty minutes to acclimate to Alexie’s somewhat unusual cadence, but after that it became a wonderful addition to the experience. However, I understand there are illustrations and comics in the actual book, so I’ll have to get my hands on a paper copy at some point.

The Dark Lady by Mike Resnick

Posted by melydia on April 16, 2013 No comment

The Dark Lady by Mike Resnick: I have long declared Mike Resnick to be my very favorite author, not because his are the best books I’ve ever read, but because they are the most consistently good. There are plenty of novels that are better than anything he’s written, but I know that when I sit down to read a Resnick novel, I am in for a really good time. This book is no exception. Leonardo, an alien working at a human art gallery through an exchange program, is hired by a wealthy old man to help him track down portraits of The Dark Lady, a woman whose likeness has appeared across the galaxy for millennia. He is joined in his search by an art thief interested in monetary gain and a man hoping to track down the Lady herself, in the flesh. One thing I’ve always found fascinating in Resnick books is his depiction of aliens. They are not human and do not act human. Leonardo’s narration is often a little frustrating, as he is so completely tied down by the traditions of his species, but it stays believable. I admit I’m only about 98% sure of what happened at the end and why the plasma painter was so special, but I can live with that. Though his books take place in the far future, what Resnick is writing are legends: exciting, memorable, and a touch grandiose. And that’s what I love about them.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

English As She Is Spoke by José Da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino

Posted by melydia on April 12, 2013 No comment

English As She Is Spoke by José Da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino: What happens when you use a Portuguese-French phrasebook and a French/English dictionary (and zero knowledge of English) to make a Portuguese-English phrasebook? This happens. It’s hard to pick a favorite “common” English phrase, but I am especially amused by “You hear the bird’s gurgling?” For extra giggles, read aloud. In short, this book really craunched the marmoset.

Blue Moon by Alyson Noel

Posted by melydia on April 9, 2013 No comment

Blue Moon by Alyson Noel (unabridged audiobook read by Katie Schorr; 8 hrs on 7 discs): Blarg. When we last saw them, Ever and Damon were both immortal and Damon’s evil ex was out of the picture for good. Now Damon’s pressuring Ever into sex (he has been waiting four hundred years to bed her, after all) but she’s all caught up in the fact that he has four hundred years of conquests under his belt while she’s still a 16-year-old virgin. A new guy named Roman shows up and everybody except Ever loves him (she’s totally suspicious); Damon starts getting sick for some reason; and the whole thing is just kind of exasperating. I’d worried that the series would move toward omg twu wuv and away from the parts that were actually interesting in the first book, and so it has. It ends on a sort-of cliffhanger, and I found I simply did not care. I won’t be going out of my way to continue the series.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

Posted by melydia on April 5, 2013 No comment

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde (unabridged audiobook read by Simon Vance; 11 hrs on 9 discs): Oh, goodness, I’m not even sure where to start. The Gingerbread Man is a psychotic killer who escapes from jail. Goldilocks is found dead in a partly-finished WWI theme park. Sinister events plague the cutthroat world of competitive cucumber-growing. Bears deal in illicit porridge paraphernalia. Punch and Judy are marriage counselors. The whole thing is absolutely ridiculous, but Detective Jack Spratt is on the case. I got quite a few chuckles out of this one, but most of the really good laughs were from the excerpts from The Barkshire Bumper Book of Records at the beginning of each chapter. If you’re familiar with nursery rhymes and enjoy absurd humor, you’ll probably enjoy this one. I don’t know how well it stands on its own, but as the sequel to The Big Over Easy it’s quite entertaining. Too bad Fforde hasn’t written any more in this series.

A note on the audio: The first book in this series, The Big Over Easy, was narrated by Simon Prebble. Previously I’d only heard Vance read more serious books, like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was fun listening to him read this bit of silliness, but I’m not sure how I would have felt if I’d listened to the books back to back.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Posted by melydia on April 2, 2013 No comment

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki: The diary of a young Japanese girl washes up on the beach in Vancouver and into the hands of a woman of Japanese descent who may or may not be the author of this very novel. The story alternates between Nao’s diary and Ruth’s experiences reading it, complete with footnotes explaining little bits of Japanese language and culture used by Nao. Nao’s unflinching description of her life – from the horrific bullying by her classmates to her father’s suicide attempts – can be hard to take at times, but her clearly affectionate descriptions of her great-grandmother and her quest for meaning make her quite sympathetic. I was especially interested to learn about some of the traditional rituals practiced by Buddhist nuns. The ending left me a bit cold, since I hadn’t expected the story to turn all magical realism on me, but otherwise I really enjoyed it. I guess my issue was that the story leading up to that point felt so literal that it almost felt autobiographical, so the dream sequences and stuff caught me off guard. Sure, I would have liked a little bit more closure (Jiko’s life story, anybody?), but maybe there’s a sequel in store eventually. Even if not, this was still a really interesting novel. I may have to look up some more titles by Ozeki.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Posted by melydia on March 29, 2013 1 comment

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (unabridged audiobook read by Kate Reading, 12 hrs on 10 CDs): Yes, I am just now, at 34 years of age, reading Pride and Prejudice. No, I never had to read it for school. Yes, I’ve seen the mini-series and recent film. I know the story. I’d just never read the book, but it shows up on “OMG BEST BOOKS EVAR” lists again and again, so I figured I might as well. That, and my next book on hold at the library hadn’t come in yet.

But anyway. Since everyone and their kid brother knows the story (and if you don’t, you should), I won’t go into it here. I was most amused by Lydia’s obliviousness and Lady Catherine’s snobbery, though many of the characters had their moments. The romance between Elizabeth and Darcy was ultimately a lot more believable than I’d expected at the beginning.

Some of the naming conventions confused me. None of the men were ever called by their first names, not even by their wives. Married women lose their first names as well, to the point where Lydia refers to “my aunt Philips” at least once. People refer to their relatives as “my” even when speaking with a joint relative; this would be like me talking to my sister about “my parents,” as if they weren’t hers as well. “Miss Bennet” was thrown around seemingly at random; at one point Jane and Lizzie were referred to as “Miss Bennet and Elizabeth”. Very strange.

Where does all the money come from? I get that people inherit their wealth, but nobody works, so surely the money runs out after a finite number of generations. I also noticed that it could be kind of stressful as a woman, since no matter how wealthy your father is, you have to marry well or go join a convent. Charlotte’s open-eyed decision to marry for financial security instead of love was a little sad but totally understandable. Anyway, it was kind of fun to read about the petty little dramas of the idle rich, and it’s a good book to have read, if only to recognize the allusions that show up in so many other stories.

A note on the audio: Reading’s character voices were subtle but quite distinct. I hope she reads other classic novels.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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