The Wild Alien Tamer by Mike Resnick

Posted by melydia on August 19, 2009 No comment

The Wild Alien Tamer by Mike Resnick: This is the third in a series of four, though it stands on its own fairly well. It’s another tale of Thaddeus Flint’s galactic traveling carnival, this time about Jupiter Monk, the animal trainer. When his Earthling animals eventually die, Monk has no act and must find alien beasts to replace them. When he comes across a tour guide who looks as foreign as any animal, they come up with an interesting idea for a con. However, things eventually get out of hand. It’s a fun book, almost as light-hearted as the prior two in the series. Good beach read.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Three-Legged Hootch Dancer by Mike Resnick

Posted by melydia on August 18, 2009 No comment

The Three Legged Hootch Dancer by Mike Resnick: Thaddeus Flint’s traveling carnival has taken to the stars, and it’s…pretty dull, actually. The aliens aren’t too interested in seeing a human take off her clothes, or an animal tamer when the animal more closely resembles the audience, or rigged games when the marks are telepaths. Luckily, Flint still has a few tricks up his sleeve. This brief novel is just as much fun as its predecessor, Sideshow, and can probably stand on its own just fine.

Also posted on BookCrossing

Twilight

Posted by melydia on August 17, 2009 6 comments

Twilight: Whenever I read a book that has been made into a movie, regardless of how I felt about it, I immediately add the DVD to my Netflix queue. I like seeing other people’s takes on familiar characters, like seeing the same play with different casts. It’s a thing. However, it is rare that I see a movie so soon after finishing the book: in this case, about 24 hours.

This is not a good movie. It’s a decent adaptation, but definitely not something to watch cold. My only major adaptation complaint was the development of Bella and Edward’s relationship, which is more or less the core of the plot. In the book, it is very clear that they can’t stay away from each other. In the movie, Bella is minding her own business when Edward comes out of nowhere to say things like “I think it’d be better if we weren’t friends” or “You should stay away from me.” When suddenly she’s saying “don’t leave me” every third sentence, it feels kind of random.

My main complaint about the movie itself is the make-up. And as one who doesn’t even wear make-up herself, you know it’s got to be bad if I even notice it. In far too many scenes it is painfully obvious that the make-up artist forgot to apply anything to the ears and necks of the vampires. Even amateurs like me know it’s bad to have a distinct border along the jawline. Edward’s excessive amount of lipstick didn’t help matters either. (And I couldn’t help thinking of the Fug Girls’ comments on the poster, which were spot on.)

The acting wasn’t stellar either: Bella almost always looked pissed or bored, and Edward alternated between awkward and bland. (Having re-watched some of his Cedric Diggory scenes, I see the awkwardness is not new, though the blandness is. He could use lessons from Tatsuya Fujiwara on effective smoldering techniques.) But, to be fair, they didn’t exactly have the best source material to work from.

I did, however, appreciate the earlier introductions of Jacob Black and the evil vampires (sounds like a band name, now that I read it), and the inclusion of bits not in the book such as Bella’s comment to Edward that his mood swings are giving her whiplash, and Mike’s weird dance outside the diner. I spent a lot of time laughing at this film, at both the intentional and unintentional humor.

Since I plan on reading the rest of the books, I’ll most likely see the other movies as well. The trailers for the second one look promising; perhaps the change in directors will help. All in all, I agree with the critics: unless you’re a big fan of the Twilight universe, there is nothing worth watching here. But if you like Twilight, you’ll probably get a kick out of it.

(I don’t know why my Twilight reviews are so long. It kind of disturbs me.)

Sideshow by Mike Resnick

Posted by melydia on August 15, 2009 No comment

Sideshow by Mike Resnick: A cute little yarn about a New England traveling carnival which buys up a competing freak show. These freaks turn out to be aliens. Like many of Resnick’s tales, the characters here are rowdy, bawdy, and a hell of a lot of fun. And like your average carny, it doesn’t overstay its welcome: a quick 150 pages and you’re out.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Posted by melydia on August 14, 2009 3 comments

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (unabridged audiobook read by Ilyana Kadushin): I am often surprised by the depth of feeling people express for this book, from unconditional adoration to absolute loathing. So when I had an opportunity to get a free copy, I decided to find out what all the fuss was about.

Bella is the new girl in town; Edward is the mysterious stranger. The romance at the core of this story is certainly nothing new, and neither is the vampire angle. The writing isn’t all that great: the descriptions are bland, the dialogue unnatural, and the narration amateurish. Adverbs abound. Bella shares her every thought and repeats herself constantly. The text is a shining example of why consistently avoiding “said” is terribly distracting. Most of what we learn about the characters is from the narrator’s descriptions rather than their actions, and I still have absolutely no idea what Edward sees in Bella except as an entree. The plot alternates between forced and outright silly. Worst of all, Bella is a total Mary Sue. I was repeatedly reminded of the sorts of romantic fantasies I wrote about as a teenager. There isn’t a whole lot to recommend this book, from a technical standpoint.

But. (You saw that coming, didn’t you?) I can, on the other hand, understand the draw. I remember being that teenager who wrote this sort of unlikely drivel. I remember the obsession over boys and the fervent hope that he would ask me out. I even remember fantasizing about having too many suitors. So yes, while this book is ridiculous and will probably disappear from collective memory within the decade, I can understand its appeal to awkward teenage girls who dream about men who are both dangerous and devoted, strong and tender, attractive and yet still an outcast. And so I did enjoy it on that level.

I’ve heard a lot of complaints about sparkling vampires, how they’re not “real” vampires. And yes, the vampires in this book are not vulnerable to sunlight (and in fact only avoid it because of the attention their sparkling draws), and the creation of a vampire is not from drinking the blood of a vampire. I would like to mention that Dracula himself was only sometimes hurt by sunlight, and people in that book became vampires both by drinking vampire blood and by simply being bitten (but not killed) by a vampire. I doubt that Dracula did much twinkling, but considering how often Edward’s skin is described in terms of minerals like marble and granite, sparkling isn’t so far fetched. I wouldn’t recommend this book to, say, Anne Rice fans, but I can’t complain much about the authenticity of something that doesn’t exist in the first place.

This may surprise you, but I’m planning on reading the rest of this series. I know what kind of silliness to expect, and I look forward to dissecting Meyer’s werewolf treatment. All in all, I enjoyed Twilight. It’s not my favorite book ever and I doubt I’ll read it again, but it was a fun bit of brain candy. I was never bored; I even chuckled aloud in some places. Many of the characters are quite likable regardless of their lack of depth, and part of me likes being transported back, half a lifetime ago, to an alternate reality where awkward teenage me gets to be the bell of the ball.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

BookCrossing in the Washington Post

Posted by melydia on August 13, 2009 1 comment

In This Club, Books Free to a Good Roam: A lovely article in the Washington Post from this past Tuesday (11 August 2009). BookCrossing shows up in the international media on a fairly regular basis, but this one is special because it’s about my local group, BC in DC. I wasn’t mentioned by name, alas, but I did meet with Ms. Ianzito. The woman in the photograph is our own crrcookie, one of the most prolific (and most organized) BookCrossers I’ve ever met.

Geocities Closing

Posted by melydia on August 12, 2009 1 comment

As you may know, Geocities is closing. I’ve moved the main pages I had stored there – the Writing Prompt Websites list and my Wild Catches from BookCrossing. Man, I found a lot of really bizarre other stuff on there. I guess I’d used it strictly for online file storage, but not for anything particularly important. Weird. Anyway, just sayin’ that if you have any my Geocities stuff bookmarked, it’s time for an update.

Hotel World by Ali Smith

Posted by melydia on August 11, 2009 1 comment

Hotel World by Ali Smith: This book is distilled insanity. It’s told from the more or less stream-of-consciousness points of view of five women whose lives intersect in a certain hotel: a dead teenager trying to remember her past, her sister working through her grief, a self-absorbed journalist, a bed-ridden invalid, and a barely coherent homeless woman. I wish I could explain the plot, but there really isn’t one – just snapshots of life that happen to overlap a bit. That said, it was kind of a fun read in places. The ghost’s manic descriptions were fun, the journalist’s ignorance was amusing, and some of the writing style was novel. Plus, it was short enough that I never felt overtaxed by any one character – save the sister, whose entire chapter contained no punctuation. That was exhausting to read.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

Posted by melydia on August 10, 2009 No comment

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories by Tim Burton: This is a strange little volume of macabre stories, mostly told in verse, of children with unusual issues and the horrors that befall them. I suppose it’s supposed to be darkly humorous, but I found it just plain old weird. Though in the same vein as Edward Gorey, it’s not quite as clever. However, it’s not bad for a ten-minute read.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Posted by melydia on August 7, 2009 1 comment

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley: An extremely long book, but that’s hardly surprising considering it covers the span of Arthurian Legend, from Ambrosius to Mordred and beyond. Though this tale is from the viewpoint of many of the women of the legend (Igraine, the Lady of the Lake, etc.), the primary characters are Morgaine (whom you probably know as Morgana or Morgan Le Fey), half-sister of Arthur, and Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Arthur’s queen. Many of the names are unusually spelled: Lancelet (Lancelot), Caius (Kay), Ectorius (Ector)…and yet, along with all these crazy names, Taliesin’s successor as the Merlin is named Kevin Harper. The name sticks out awkwardly, making me wonder if Bradley was honoring a friend named Kevin. But all that aside, it’s still a good read. The length isn’t all that noticeable because the story does not drag much at all. I did get bored of the near-constant religious arguing, with each side mindlessly clinging to notions just as crazy as the other, but in the end things are more or less resolved peacefully. I liked Morgaine, for the most part. Gwenhwyfar was an obnoxious harpy and I couldn’t figure out why Lancelet and Arthur were so smitten with her, but whatever. This book is perhaps better for those who, like me, are already quite familiar with the legend, because the way things are worked into this version are often quite ingenious. All in all, I’m glad I read it, but it didn’t make a lasting impression on me.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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