The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Posted by melydia on December 31, 2008 1 comment

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink: Though it purports to be about a teenaged boy and his romance with a complicated older woman, this book is more about how the succeeding generations of Germans deal with the horrors of their Third Reich parents and grandparents. Michael Berg is a thoroughly introspective narrator, creating the feel of a memoir more than a novel. I found myself thinking about the characters and their choices long after finishing the last page. Recommended for those looking for a thought-provoking read.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Posted by melydia on December 30, 2008 2 comments

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Forget all the Frankenstein stereotypes you know. Forget Igor, grave robbing, neck bolts, electricity, and mobs of angry villagers carrying torches. Victor Frankenstein is a student of natural philosophy (what science was evidently called back then) who plays with chemicals in order to create life from dead tissue. The monster, which remains nameless throughout the story, so frightens Victor that he runs away and tries to forget about it. The monster, initially gentle but driven to cruelty by the repeated condemnation by mankind, vows to ruin Victor’s life in return for creating his misery. It’s an interesting story, one that touches less obviously on the ethics of scientific experimentation, but says quite a lot about the unfortunate importance of beauty in society. Victor is more naive and pitiful than evil or mad. Definitely one worth reading, but don’t go in expecting anything like those famous old movies.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig

Posted by melydia on December 29, 2008 No comment

Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig: Copyright law! That’s right, folks, I read a book about copyright law. And a fascinating book, at that. Lessig takes us through the ins and outs of these ever-changing rules, sprinkled liberally with relevant examples. Should students be sued for their life savings for sharing music files? Should copyright automatically be renewed, even if the original holder is disinterested or even dead? Are fanart and fanfic actually a threat to creators of the content on which they are based? How does the internet change the way content is shared, and how should copyright law to reflect this? Lessig goes through this all in great detail. It’s an important book for most netizens, particularly those members of fandom.

As one might expect giving the subject matter, this entire text of this book is available for free download, as well as how I experienced it: a free audiobook podcast.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

Posted by melydia on December 28, 2008 1 comment

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl: Blue van Meer and her somewhat eccentric dad live a nomadic life as he jumps between visiting professorships all over the country. Our story takes place during Blue’s senior year of high school in North Carolina, when the two actually stay in one place for an entire year. She meets a collection of unusual characters, most notably Hannah Schneider, a film studies teacher at the high school with a somewhat mysterious past. The most memorable and enchanting part of this book is the writing style. Blue’s lively narration is rife with intellectual asides, all backed up with MLA-style citations. I kept wondering how many of the references were real. So convinced was I of the legitimacy of the sources that I was rather surprised to discover that the Night Watchmen don’t actually exist. I found the plot and the unique storytelling methods delightful. And for the record, I think Blue is 100% correct. (Those who have read the book will know what I mean.)

I listened to this on audiobook. Though the reader (Emily Janice Card) was fantastic, the “visual aids” (illustrations) and other textual ornamentation would have been a nice addition. I picked up a hardcover copy at the library, so I was able to see what I was missing. Card was one of the best female readers I’ve ever heard; the story would have simply been better to experience as intended.

Why Don’t Your Eyelashes Grow? by Beth Ann Ditkoff

Posted by melydia on December 20, 2008 No comment

Why Don’t Your Eyelashes Grow? by Beth Ann Ditkoff: This is a collection of questions and answers geared towards parents answering their children’s queries about their bodies. No, it’s not about puberty. It’s about all the other little stuff: why do we have boogers, what are moles, etc. I knew most of the answers already, though I recognized several misconceptions I held as a child. I can see this being a useful book to have in the house. Unfortunately, I am a touch leery about the credibility of the information. Yes, the author is a doctor, but there is no bibliography or even recommended further reading. That always puts up a red flag for me when reading nonfiction.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Posted by melydia on December 19, 2008 No comment

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult: Not one of her better books. There are a few things you can count on in your average Picoult novel: a family or two with teenage children, police and/or lawyers, at least one romance, and a heaping helping of dysfunction. I get the impression that Picoult reads a headline and decides to write a story about it. Which is fine, but this book’s Weighty Topic is school shootings, which reads a lot like a cross between We Need to Talk About Kevin and a Law & Order episode, with a generous sprinkling of high school stereotypes. The main characters were the shooter and his mother, the shooter’s crush and her mother (a judge) and boyfriend (a bully/jock), and the detective. The whole story was just so tragic that I stopped caring how things turned out. It didn’t help that I called the twist ending around halfway through the book. I’ve read some excellent books by Picoult; this just didn’t happen to be one of them.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell

Posted by melydia on December 12, 2008 No comment

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell: This is an autobiography unlike most others. Campbell, star of the Evil Dead films, starts from his surprisingly industrious childhood, through the physical tortures of his friendship with Sam Raimi (who would go on to direct the Spiderman films, among others), and into his career as a full-time actor. Not only is it a fascinating look into the making of Evil Dead and Hercules, it’s downright hilarious. Campbell writes the way he speaks, a sort of campy monologue full of entertaining anecdotes. My favorite part was the photo captions. Definitely recommended, not only to Bruce Campbell fans, but also to aspiring filmmakers. It’s amazing what Raimi and co. were able to accomplish on a meager budget, using homemade special effects. I look forward to Campbell’s other books.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Posted by melydia on December 6, 2008 No comment

On Beauty by Zadie Smith: Whenever I review a book, I feel a need to at least briefly sum up the plot. It’s hard to decide if one might want to read something without even knowing vaguely what it’s about. Unfortunately, I’m having a bit of a tough time with this one. See, this book is about family and infidelity and race relations and Haiti and Britain and New England and intellectualism and hip hop and poetry and more. The main characters are the Belseys: white British art history professor Howard, his black American wife Kiki, and his three very different children. Jerome is experimenting with Christianity and conservatism, Zora is an insatiable intellectual, and Levi is struggling to discover what it means to be black. My favorite character by far was Kiki. She was warm and friendly without being a doormat for her idiot husband. (Yeah, I didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for Howard.) The story itself was interesting, more or less covering one turbulent year in the lives of the Belseys. Unfortunately, once it reached the (rather predictable) climax, there was a big time skip, followed by a sort of lackluster coda, like the author ran out of steam. I don’t need tidy endings with everything all neatly tied up, but I would have liked a little more detail on what happened between the Big Drama and the fizzle of a conclusion. If you’re the sort of person who likes reading page by page, enjoying the sensation of being in someone else’s life, you’ll probably enjoy this one. The characters are realistic and recognizable. Personally, I like books that go somewhere, where at the end I can tell why the author felt a desire to tell that particular story. This one left me a little disappointed.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Brush Up Your Mythology by Michael Macrone

Posted by melydia on December 5, 2008 No comment

Brush Up Your Mythology! by Michael Macrone: Oddly enough, this book appears to have been originally titled “By Jove!”, which would have been far more fitting. Though you will learn (or relearn) a number of famous tales, the purpose of this book is not to function as a primer, but rather to describe the Greek/Roman mythological roots of common English words and phrases. And in that capacity it does an excellent job, covering terms from the obvious (dionysian) to the obscure (syringe), with a healthy peppering of amusing commentary interspersed. If you’re a fan of language or mythology, this is a fun read.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Sad News

Posted by melydia on December 1, 2008 No comment

It is with great sadness that I write that Dewey of The Hidden Side of a Leaf has passed away. I didn’t even know she was ill, but according to her husband she had been suffering for a long time. She was the mastermind behind many delightful projects, including Weekly Geeks, the Bookworms Carnival, and the semi-annual 24-Hour Read-a-thon. I didn’t know her personally, but I checked her blog almost every day. It’s fitting that her last post was about a personal challenge to give away one book every day of the holiday season. She will be greatly missed by the book blogging community. And by me.

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