What I'm Reading: The Big Sleep

The hubby and I just watched all three episodes of Masterpiece Mystery's Sherlock, a modernized (but still so very faithful) show about two of my favorite literary characters: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. It's gotten me in a mystery frame of mind and because I'm trying desperately not to pick up my Atlantic City beach book for this weekend (All Your Base are Belong to Us--curse you Random House and your amazing books, please hire me), I stopped at Barnes and Noble and, on a whim, picked up Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. Smart whim.

I sat down in the cafe with a chai latte and read the first 20 pages. Given the era in which it was written, I shouldn't be surprised that it has much the same noir tone that marked The Maltese Falcon. While Chandler's Philip Marlowe has a little stricter code of ethics than Hammett's Sam Spade, he finds himself being forced to make questionable decisions while mired in a muddle of murder, porn, and disappearances. Marlowe is cynical but loyal and not above a little humor at the expense of others. Upon meeting his client's younger (but still twenty-something year old) daughter for the first time, he tells her that his name is Doghouse Reilly. The slang is sometimes a little jarring just because so much of the terminology has fallen out of use but always fascinating. It's a good thing I didn't have much human contact this afternoon because all I've wanted to do is use words like "dame." Also, some of the things written about a couple of gay characters would have sparked some outcry had they been written more recently. I believe, though, that content like that doesn't make the book less valuable or suddenly no good (as some seem to believe about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet, which portrays a group of Mormons poorly or how some people feel about the almighty Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and its rampant use of the n-word). Such content becomes a snapshot of history and a valuable discussion point in the classroom or at home.

I was laughing and gasping at turns throughout this book. Not only was it highly entertaining but it was very well-written. It was Chandler's first novel and I'm really glad that not only did he continue to write but that he kept using Marlowe as his protagonist. I'm ready for more mystery and definitely more Raymond Chandler.

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Excerpt:
"You're cute."
"What you see is nothing," I said. "I've got a Bali dancing girl tattooed on my right thigh."
Her eyes rounded. She said: "Naughty," and wagged a finger at me. Then she whispered: "Can I have my gun?"

Quote of the Week: Tim O'Brien

Cut for spoilers, sort of. This is the final passage of The Things They Carried and while it doesn't reveal any particular plot points it's still a very poignant final image. If you haven't read this book (please do), be aware that reading this post is like reading the last page and that you'll be getting O'Brien's final thoughts first. I hazard against it.

Character Profile: Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew has been my hero since I was six. This is true. When I was first allowed into the "chapter books" section, my elementary school librarian loaded me up with Newbery and Caldecott Medal bookmarks and each one of those found their home inside the collection of old Nancy Drew books on the fiction shelf. As soon as I worked my way through all of them, I started over again.

Why did I idolize her so much? Nancy was an older girl with two great best friends (George the stereotypical tomboy and Bess the stereotypical girly-girl), an awesome car, a loving lawyer father, a stand-in mother for a housekeeper, and a college boyfriend. Those were all things that made Nancy cool but in my mind it was actually her intellect and her willingness to take risks to help people that made her a heroine.

Nancy asked questions that wouldn't have easy answers, that often led to more questions and dangerous situations. She risked her life many times and frequently for people she had only just met. Nancy wasn't concerned about being paid, she cared about good people who were in need. She turned to her friends for help and they leapt to her aid and offered her their advice (most of the time, from Bess at least, it was to be careful). Her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, was on hand to rescue her when she needed it, though Nancy often rescued herself. She combined clues (often while displaying some impressive talent) to unravel complex mysteries. For a character who debuted in 1930, Nancy is an impressively intelligent and self-reliant young woman. The women who wrote as Carolyn Keene clearly made an effort to present an admirable heroine to the girls of their respective times.

(Like Clare, Nancy will be featured again. I have a book about "Carolyn Keene" that's begging to be reread.)

What I'm Reading: The Mislaid Magician -or- Ten Years After

Sorry, Neil. My package from Amazon came while I was still reading Smoke and Mirrors and sadly, new books trump previously read books. I cruised my way through The Grand Tour, finishing it under the booklight on Friday night (sorry, hubby). Immediately the next morning I began The Mislaid Magician. The Grand Tour and The Mislaid Magician are sequels to my favorite epistolary novel (written in the form of letters or diary entries), Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede (can you tell yet that she's one of my most treasured authors?) and Caroline Stevermer.

They use an alternate dimension type reality where history in general has not changed and the world itself is very recognizable as Regency England, post-Napoleonic War. One big difference, though: magic is real, there is a Royal College of Wizards and a Ministry of Magic, and wizards are accepted members of society. The period details in all three of these books, including the phrasing that the main characters, Cecy, Kate, Thomas the Marquis of Schofield, and James, use are fascinating. Every once in a while, I'll catch myself thinking in character dialect after I've put the book down. Wrede writes as Cecy and Stevermer writes as Kate and their voices remain distinctive through all three books.

The Mislaid Magician picks up at the advent of the steam engine, ten years after Cecy marries James Tarleton and Kate marries Thomas. They each have a passel of children, fitting considering the times. Kate and Thomas are watching both families at their home (called Skeynes, which I hope is a reference to knitting and the knit messages from the previous book) while Cecy and James are headed to Stockton to investigate the disappearance of a surveyor wizard for the Duke of Wellington. I'm not very far in but I'm absolutely invested in the story. The children's individual personalities reflect their parents' and I can see everyone, including the little ones, getting into a lot of trouble very quickly in this one. I'm looking forward to finding out how it goes.

Thus far, absolutely recommend Sorcery and Cecelia, if you enjoyed it, check out The Grand Tour (which is written in the form of Kate's honeymoon diary and Cecy's deposition), and continue on to The Mislaid Magician. I'll let you know the final verdict.

Author Spotlight: J.K. Rowling

I long to write about Patricia Wrede but that will have to wait. In honor of this the final Harry Potter movie and the end of an era, I want to talk a little bit about J.K. Rowling and what she has done for children, magic, and literacy.

According to Rowling's website, Harry Potter was first conceived during a train delay and finally came to fruition years later in Edinburgh after the birth of her older daughter and the dissolution of her marriage. As if single motherhood to a real child wasn't difficult enough, Rowling worked hard to give the world Harry Potter. My mom bought the books as a set: the first four hardcovers in a box, just for my little brother to interest him in reading. I, for one, had refused to take part in such a ridiculous movement and anyway, at 14, I was clearly too old for these children's stories. Anyone who knows me, though, knows that I can't be in the vicinity of a book for a prolonged time without reading it. And there these four books were, in my very house, waiting. Possibly staring at me. Certainly demanding my attention. I gave in and, immediately rapt, read one after the other, after the other, until I was done and when was this fifth book coming out, anyway? These are not exceptionally well-written books nor is the concept that magic is hiding in everyday life just out of our reach totally original. Rowling's true genius in Harry Potter was that, as her initial batch of readers grew older, as did Harry...and his story. Correct me if I'm wrong, but no other children's series that I am familiar with has evolved from book to book, aging the character and making the plot darker and more complex, with such excellent pacing. This is a series that grabs your attention and refuses to let it go, refuses to allow you to grow out of it. Harry Potter grew up with me, so much so that I dragged my fiance along with me in 2007 for the midnight book release for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He now asks me every other day when we're going to see the last movie. Soon, I say.

I also love what Rowling has done for children's literacy. I subscribe to the books=drugs theory in that there are gateway books that will lead people to more difficult and totally hardcore books or even just more books in general. Rowling's Potter books are the ultimate gateway books. She's created a recognizable world but with a twist, a sympathetic hero and surrounded him with a great complementary cast of characters, and a wicked villain who everyone loves to hate. They're accessible and interesting, funny and sad, and best of all, they're addictive like crazy and they'll hook 'em while they're young. Children who work their way through all seven Harry Potter novels are not going to simply stop reading at the end of Deathly Hallows. They'll want more books like Harry Potter and then more books, any books that sound interesting. Rowling is creating a whole new batch of book junkies out of a generation that would have likely found its place permanently parked in front of the television if it hadn't been for her. I think that's beautiful.

Thanks to Rowling, too, other authors are getting exposure that they deserve. (See, I'm going to work her in anyway:) Older books involving magic for the same general demographic of readers are being reprinted and released with shiny new cover art...wonderful books like Mairelon the Magician and The Magician's Ward by Patricia Wrede have been combined in an omnibus edition titled A Matter of Magic. Granted, themes will fall in and out of fashion (vampire books were cool when I was a teenager 13 years ago and, thanks to Twilight, are back in), but it always takes one big book to act as a catalyst and I believe that Rowling brought back the magic to young adult literature with Harry Potter.

A single mother created an outcast boy and in introducing magic to his life, she gave it to all of the rest of us. It's not so much the ordering of her words but the fact that they exist, that they caught on like fire, and that the story she began burns on in the people who read it--that's the magic. Thank you, J.K. Rowling.

Missed Friday

Things got in the way on Friday and today was also full so look forward to a double-post tomorrow.

Quote of the Week: Kurt Vonnegut

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind."
-God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut

Husband and I have been talking about children lately (our new neighbor is a month into her third trimester and is so sweet and so excited), which has gotten my mom and I talking about decorating a nursery. My first concept was Alice in Wonderland but it got to be far too theme park-like and elaborate in my head. My mom, as always, was a settling influence: she suggested a library. I want something cute that introduces things I love to my baby from an early age but, as my mom reminded me, I also need baby to sleep in this room. Libraries are places of joy and imagination but they're also quiet and calming. I swear, this relates to the quote.

Vonnegut's main character prepares this little speech for his neighbors' twins. I find it to be a simple but beautiful summary of human life. We're here on this planet for a limited time and the place itself is the way it is. It is round and wet and crowded. Being kind may not be the rule (enough people seem to ignore it if it is) but it should be. We'd be a lot better off if all babies were greeted with this, if the need for kindness was consistently reinforced throughout their lives. Mine will: I plan to have this cross-stitched and framed above the crib.

Character Profile: Clare

At long last, another of our awesome female characters: Clare DeTamble from The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (beware: this will contain spoilers though I try to gloss over specific plot points). I have read this book countless times now. In fact, the first time I read it, I closed it, sat for a minute, and then opened it up again to start over. One of the greatest things about Clare as an element of the story is that while so much of the storyline is about Henry, the real factor at play here is the way that they have shaped each other through time and circumstance.

She is the titular character here and the first one that we hear from. The story is written from two viewpoints: Henry, the involuntary time traveler, and Clare, the time traveler's wife. Though Henry's voice is so dominant in the chronicle of their lives it is truly Clare's story that shines through and gives it definition. It's Clare who we follow from youth to adolescence to adulthood with a much greater focus. We get snippets of Henry's past but nothing like a clear picture of his life, really. He travels back and meets her as a young girl and as he begins shaping her life (admittedly in an inadvertently twisted way), she begins to change him in the time that he comes from. Clare teaches Henry to be reliable, or as reliable as he can be. She teaches him to maintain hope through the futility of his life. That's really what this novel is about. It isn't an epic love story. It's a story about the futility of predestination, about reliving memories over and over, about learning from the past even if you don't know if you can change the future.

Henry is the tennis ball in The Time Traveler's Wife, batted back and forth through time, and Clare is his constant. She is the one thing we can depend on in this story. The only times we truly see her fall apart are when they are trying to conceive and when Henry dies. She is a rock not just for Henry but for the reader. We know who she is and we can rely on her to act, for the most part, with wisdom, compassion, and justice. Clare isn't perfect and as I've said before, no good heroine is perfect. If she was, we couldn't aspire to be more like her--she would be out of reach. Clare's biggest flaw is that she spends so much of her time just waiting. She tries to find things to do to fill the time while Henry is gone but she doesn't seek to do them with other people, just by herself. And she goes back and forth between glorying in the freedom and despairing in the loneliness.

Clare is strong and determined with an incredible foresight. So much of the end is left to our imagination but from what I read into Clare, I know this much is true: In spite of defining herself as simply The Time Traveler's Wife, she rises up beyond her relationship with Henry and builds herself a life with her daughter and teaches us that we are not victims of circumstance as long as we pull ourselves above it and move forward.

What I'm Reading: Smoke and Mirrors

Today, caught in the death grip of whatever was wrong with me this morning, I wrapped up Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (fantastic book that I will talk about later and in Googling, found two sequels that I have just ordered from Amazon) and picked up Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. I'm likely running the risk of Gaiman-ing out my readers but (shhh, don't tell them) I don't care. I have yet to be unimpressed by his writing which is a really passive way of saying that his writing impresses me. Were I ever to meet him, I would ask him if he knew how great he was. (Side note: If I ever spoke to Patricia Wrede [again], I'd ask the same question.)

So anyway, Smoke and Mirrors is an amalgam of his short stories and a few poems that have been previously published in anthologies and other collections.What I enjoy about this book is that it seems to be a really great representation of the things that have inspired and influenced Gaiman as a writer and professional imagination-man. There are stories here that touch on H.P. Lovecraft and traditional fairy tales and classic horror films but all with Gaiman's personal twist on them. Some are uncomfortable to read but possibly only because I am Minnesotan and discomfort comes easily to me. My only problem with this collection is that when I read the pieces that mention Larry Talbot (the wolfman) by name, I can't help but envision Lon Cheney Jr. in the role, with his perpetually stricken face. Again, more of a personal problem.

I definitely recommend Smoke and Mirrors to anyone who likes a story with a good twist or someone who doesn't have a lot of spare time to read and wants a quick payoff. Short story collections are great for that and this one in particular never fails to deliver.

So here's the blog schedule, as I promised:
Sunday: What I'm Reading
Monday: Character Profile
Wednesday: Quote of the Week
Friday: Author Spotlight

I'll be running occasional polls of authors and characters (though Character Profile days will start with Nancy, Scout, and Clare as promised) and other miscellaneous things. Feel free to comment whenever with requests, suggestions, or anything.

Brainstorming

I'm working on a regular schedule for posts and a list of topics for when I'm feeling uninspired. Sunday will mark the beginning of the new schedule and I'm really excited about it!

Also, you can still expect to see posts about Scout, Clare, and Nancy. Your favorite ladies will be featured here soon.

The First Sunny Day

Our first really nice day of the year was today. I went out today at 2pm and didn't come back in until about 20 minutes ago. I walked down to the Hudson River and sat on a bench. I ate lunch and meant to just sit outside and read. It didn't work out that way. I'm convinced now that if I didn't have to go to work, and could sit outside as long as I wanted to, I would be published by now. Maybe I just need more drive and focus. (Speaking of focus, I swear I'll finish my posts about heroines. This just wasn't the day for it.) Anyway, here's what came out:

It's warm, practically unbearably so for me in my sweatshirt, up on the streets. I came down to the riverside for the soothing breeze that occasionally picks up to a chill wind. It feels delicious on my sun-warmed arms. I brought books and a blanket I'd been knitting, some small projects I'd been neglecting. Somehow the play of the birds distracts me from all of my intentions. The seagulls spot a female duck eating something out of the gravel on the shoreline. They amass around, sure she has some food source they can't find. She trundles along, ignoring their shrill voices, the blue on her wing shining purple in the sunlight. A raven keeps landing in odd places and letting out a single keening cry. When I look up from retrieving my camera, he is gone and I cannot find him anywhere.

Mallards swim past the rocks in front of my bench. Their green-black heads are metallic in this spring afternoon light. They bob in the waves seeming to move with them but really they're swimming in the opposite direction. The female haunting the shoreline is chased by two rambunctious little girls and takes flight, rebuking them loudly.

A cloud rolls over the sun and the wind grows steadier, gaining more of a bite. It doesn't matter. There is a specific pair of ducks on which I have fixated and will not be distracted from. She is mostly white, a pale princess with mottled beige markings. She paddles with poise, her head held high. Her partner has the same coloring she does but with a black tail and a black head. He follows her at a consistent distance, as if he guards her from the screaming gulls. His head doesn't have the shine the other mallards do. It's as if he were carved from onyx and alabaster.

I've been reading fairy tales lately, dark ones, and it's made me romanticize things. But these two are different. No others like them are swimming here. I wonder what they are, if my mom can identify them as I've been texting her, asking her to do. Part of me hopes she can't, that they truly are something else, and that the ever-young, always faithful part of me is right to believe in what can't be seen.

Meg Murry: What She Had

From A Wrinkle in Time through The Arm of the Starfish (and An Acceptable Time, but indirectly), we get to watch Madeleine L'Engle's Meg Murry (O'Keefe) grow from awkward teenager to a loving mother. Each book offers a distinct look into Meg and shows us what makes her an admirable and ultimately human woman.

We first meet Meg in Wrinkle as a teenager with low self-confidence. Her father has disappeared with no indication that he is still alive and her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, with whom she is especially close, is having troubles at school. It's clear from the start that Meg feels things more strongly than most people and has difficulty hiding her emotions, abilities that prove to be both her greatest strength and a difficult weakness. It is Meg's love for Charles and her father that lead her into danger, determined to protect both of them. It's Meg's emotional insight that allows her to pull Charles from IT's hold in Camazotz. Meg's love leads her into Charles's body to save his life in A Wind in the Door and, in spite of an almost crippling fear for the fate of the world and her unborn child, her love leads her into Charles Wallace's mind and into history in A Swiftly Tilting Planet. It's her anger that she must learn to curb. This outrage on behalf of the people she loves leads her into fist fights with older boys, defending her little brother. In Wrinkle, it is her rage that makes her susceptible to the control of IT. IT throbbed with the rhythm of anger and hate and nearly pulled her down with them.

Meg's low self-confidence often emerges when she is comparing herself to her mother. In Wrinkle, she is frustrated, believing that "it was not an advantage to have a mother who was a scientist and a beauty as well." Meg is described as plain when she is a teenager but by Starfish, she is "a tall, strikingly beautiful woman." She knows that she has an exceptionally high IQ but never feels like she can stack up to her mother. We know from Many Waters that she's gone to college and studied high level biology but when we see her later in Starfish, she is using her education and intelligence to school her seven children. Her mother confesses to Meg's daughter Poly in An Acceptable Time that Meg's choices were at least partially because her "estimation of herself has always been low" and she chose to be the best mother she could be instead of running the risk that her best efforts in science would still prove to place her only second. Mrs. Murry adds that "women have come a long way...but there will always be problems--and glories--that are unique to women."

Meg Murry O'Keefe is a woman with a mind of her own. She is courageous regardless of her fear and loving to the point of self-sacrifice. Her strength regarding her family is boundless, raising seven children in near isolation, eagerly leaping to Charles Wallace's aid. She's also painfully self-conscious and self-demeaning. She doesn't believe that her intelligence can equal that of her mother's and in order to keep from setting an insurmountable goal for her own children, she doesn't exhibit it. She holds herself back out of fear and a misguided sense of kindness. Meg is a flawed heroine, the best and most realistic kind we can hope to have. We know that we are not perfect, that we can make mistakes, misjudge ourselves, and be afraid. Heroines like Meg allow us to see that we can do all those things and still be incredible people. We can fear but be brave. We may look down on ourselves but reading about Meg makes us think twice about what we believe we lack.

We can be humans and heroes, all at the same time.

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"Love. That was what she had that IT did not have."
-A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Heroines

I always get excited when the book I'm reading features a strong female character. I'm gearing up for a week of posts about my favorite heroines but first I want to hear about yours. There's a poll up on the right side of the blog, all ready for you to vote for your favorite lady. If you don't see her on it, comment on here and let me know who she is and where I can read about her!

The Infinitely Quotable

I've had this strange habit all my life of writing down the things that people say. I have three ring binders full of quotes from movies, songs, and books. There are pages in those binders full of quotes from family vacations and parties. There are even some pages in the Mall of America FranklinCovey store planner filled with strange things customers have said. It's always just been a compulsion of mine to keep track of things that touch me, inspire me, or make me laugh. My binders are somewhere in my parents' garage but I do have a number of books here (of course) and the delightful internet at my fingertips, so here are a few of my favorite quotes:

"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!" -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Always do right. That will gratify some of the people and astonish the rest." -Mark Twain

"The human race has one really effective weapon and that is laughter. Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand." -Mark Twain

"A person with a new idea is a crank until that idea succeeds." -Mark Twain

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured." -Mark Twain

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -Mark Twain

"A cauliflower is just a cabbage with a college education." -Mark Twain

"They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight." -The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are." -The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"I'll never be certain, of course, but I think he meant to bring me up against the realities, to guide me across the river and to take me to the edge and to stand a kind of vigil as I chose a life for myself." -The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"If you don't care for obscenity, you don't care for the truth; if you don't care for the truth, watch how you vote." -The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen." -The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again." -The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"All fire burns, little baby. You'll learn." -Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

"'Good luck,' whispered the Angel Islington. There was a rushing sound like a wind soughing across a lost forest, or the beating of mighty wings." -Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

"Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each moment I can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. Why has he gone where I cannot follow?" -The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

"Sometimes he would rock her to sleep in his arms, and read her left to right, and know everything he needed to know about the world. If it wasn't written on her, it wasn't important to him." -Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

"He would fall asleep with his heart at the foot of his bed, like some domesticated animal that was no part of him at all. And each morning he would wake with it again in the cupboard of his rib cage, having become a little heavier, a little weaker, but still pumping. And by midafternoon he was again overcome with the desire to be somewhere else, someone else, someone else somewhere else. I am not sad." -Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

"Love itself became the object of her love. She loved herself in love, she loved loving love, as love loves loving, and was able, in that way, to reconcile herself with a world that fell so short of what she would have hoped for." -Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

"She felt a total displacement, like a spinning globe brought to a sudden halt by the light touch of a finger. How did she end up here, like this? How could there have been so much--so many moments, so many people and things, so many razors and pillows, timepieces and subtle coffins--without her being aware? How did her life live itself without her?" -Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

"He knew that I love you also means I love you more than anyone loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that no one loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that I love no one else, and never have loved anyone else, and never will love anyone else." -Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

"God loves the plagiarist. And so it is written, 'God created humankind in His image, in the image of God He created them.' God is the original plagiarizer. With a lack of reasonable sources from which to filch--man created in the image of what? the animals?--the creation of man was an act of reflexive plagiarizing; God looted the mirror." -Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

"Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody." -Mark Twain

"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her." -"The Diary of Adam" by Mark Twain

"Wherever she was, there was Eden." -"The Diary of Adam" by Mark Twain

Work in Progress: Apocalypse by Goose

I'm thinking about doing a series of short stories and calling it Apocalypse Ridiculous. It'll be just what the title sounds like, stories about the world ending in very, very strange ways.
This is the first one I've started, tentatively titled "Apocalypse by Goose."

They descended upon the city in a flurry of feathers. They ate everything in sight, knocking garbage cans over in the twilight like long-necked raccoons. They hissed at the children and chased them for blocks on the slightest provocation. We couldn't shoot them and only the worst of us lacked guilt over poisoning them. The geese were here with their loathsome appetites and we just had to be patient. It had to end some day.

The children thought it was cool, this near ground cover of waterfowl. They fed the birds bread, first tossed on the ground with squeals of glee but advancing quickly to food taken directly from the hand, the child's determined stillness apparent and sharp intake of excited breath audible. It was our mistake, feeding them, and we would pay for it dearly.

They became accustomed to our presence as we became more unnerved by theirs. The geese soon learned that these treats fed to them need not be given but could be taken instead. They discovered our trash cans, brimming with delectable refuse, and raided them accordingly. We tried to chase them off but they simply hissed, chased, and bit when given half a chance. They bit frequently but more out of defense than anything, at least in the beginning. Scientists never could pinpoint just when this casual malice turned into a taste for human blood or why, but it did.

Taking Considerable Many Resks

I learned today that NewSouth Books out of Alabama is going to be releasing new versions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These books are now in the public domain and available for editing by anyone. With the aid of Dr. Alan Gribben of Auburn University, this new single volume edition will not contain the words "nigger" or "injun." I am going to specifically address the former word.

I cannot say it aloud. I can't. It felt strange to even so much as type it and it's bothering me now, just sitting up there in quotes. It's a horrible word used over centuries to demean and dehumanize a group of people. And sweeping it under the rug will not kill its power but it will make us less able to face it head on. Dr. Gribben has referred to his editing as "preemptive censorship" because it will allow schools that are afraid of allowing their students to read Huck Finn to have a less offensive option. He has also said that he wants to provide students with a way to have a literary discussion about Huck Finn without distraction. Since when has talking frankly about language been a "distraction" in a literary discussion? And why shouldn't a conversation about a book turn to the topics of the history of slavery and the evolution of our language? If something is difficult to talk about, it's probably necessary to talk about it.

Erasing the n-word from Twain's great works is not "preemptive censorship" but active censorship and it lessens the impact of his language. Other words were in popular use and Twain could have chosen those but he didn't--he chose the one with the greatest impact. The language in Huck Finn is supposed to make you uncomfortable. It helps you question the circumstances of its constant use (219 times). It creates a startling disconnect between Huck's clear affection for Jim and his use of the n-word in reference to Jim.

Children and young adults hear this word in the music that they listen to, the movies that they watch, and possibly even out of the mouths of their friends. With its rampant use in pop culture, it's more important than ever that students are able to discuss its roots in an educational setting with a teacher prepared to address their concerns over its use and to explain its history.

To erase the n-word from a literary work that illustrates its common and casual use in a time when some humans weren't considered, well, human just because of the color of their skin is abhorrent. It's glossing over an important piece of our history in order to make some people feel better about reading a good book.

Deal with your discomfort. Confront our nation's shameful past. Learn from both.

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"I reckon a body that ups and tells the truth when he is in a tight place, is taking considerable many resks."
-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

"My, you're full of many-faceted questions this morning."

Final book tally for the year: 103.
Including re-reads: 107.

Admittedly, a lot of this was garbage. I read almost every free trash novel I could get on my Nook. It's full of classics now that haven't been touched and it's my goal to read them all before anything else this year.

That is, before everything other than War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. I've started reading it again making it my first book of the year for four years running. It's an incredible modern fairy tale (yes, the '80s are still modern) set in Minneapolis about a rock guitarist named Eddi and her role in a war between two factions of the Folk. There are few books that can truly make me laugh out loud and this is one of them. It also makes me cry, every time I read it. The music and clothing are dated but they don't distract from the story at hand. This book is going to wear out long before I'm finished re-reading.

And when I look at the acknowledgments, I find that so many of my favorite authors are tied together. Bull thanks Patricia Wrede, an author I admire for her strong female characters and humorous prose. She also mentions being half of the Flash Girls, the other half being the Fabulous Lorraine, Neil Gaiman's assistant. Three authors I adore, all tied together.

With no further ado, I present my favorite books of 2010, in the order that I read them:

1. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull: I think I've been pretty clear about why I love this book.
2. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood: Atwood's dystopian novels are always chilling and intriguing and entirely too possible. Oryx and Crake is no exception.
3. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: A ghostly retelling of Kipling's classic The Jungle Book, sure to become a classic in its own right.
4. Stardust by Neil Gaiman: A great story about a boy and his quest to bring a star to his beloved. Alert: Madness ensues!
5. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer: Post-WWII author visits an island that was occupied by the Nazis during the war. It's one of the best epistolary novels I've read.
6. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane: Thrilling and chilling. It really was an interesting insight into old psychiatric practices and it had some great twists.
7. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane: I actually hadn't seen the movie before I read the book this year. I've experienced both by now and can happily say that the book is better.
8. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: An angel, a demon, a witch, and a witch-finder try to avoid the apocalypse. I really want to read more Terry Pratchett now.
9. American Gods by Neil Gaiman: This is one of my favorite books ever. I have lent it out numerous times and nobody's come away disappointed.
10. Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough: You've seen the movie, now read the book! It goes into much more than just Dillinger and it's far less romanticized.
11. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood: A fictionalized version of the story of Grace Marks, a maid convicted of murdering her employer in 1843. Atwood humanizes Grace and fills out her story.
12. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Let the Circle Be Unbroken; and The Road to Memphis by Mildred D. Taylor: These books were great when I first read them as a child. They're even better and more nuanced now that I'm older.
13. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman: Again, great when I first read them when I was younger and much better now.
14. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut: This man is the master of funny-because-it's-painfully-true.
15. Monster by A. Lee Martinez: A loaner from a friend at work, it's a really funny novel about mythical creatures in our modern world.
16. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: Incredible story about an alternate universe underneath London. I love this novel so much.
17. The Millenium Trilogy by Steig Larsson: An intricately lain story about violence against women. The heroes of these novels are very, very human and at times it can be difficult to cheer for them but cheer you will.
18. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby: Another Hornby classic about people trying to save themselves and ultimately saving each other.
19. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett: A sweet little boy charms his curmudgeonly grandfather and then all of England.
20. Mairelon the Magician and The Magician's Ward by Patricia Wrede: Regency London but with magic! Kim is one of the best, strongest female characters I've ever encountered.
21. Scott Pilgrim 1-7 by Bryan Lee O'Malley: A series of graphic novels celebrating video games, love, music, and stupid boys. I laughed repeatedly while reading these.
22. Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson: A woman travels to the Aran Islands with her young daughter to escape her past only to find her future.
23. Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia Wrede: More strong females! A retelling of the original Snow White story.

Clearly I'll be writing more about Patricia Wrede sometime in the near future. Her Enchanted Forest Chronicles series is another great read and one that I didn't get to indulge in last year. There's always 2011!

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"Oh, I know that, my sweet, but dangerous to what portion of you? Your physical self? Your sanity? Your immortal soul? Or, perhaps, your heart?"
Eddi couldn't help but flinch a little at that. "Don't be annoying. You know what I mean."
"Yes," he sighed, "I do. But are you certain you don't want the answers to the others as well?
"No. Not from you, anyway."
"I didn't really think you would. No, my iris, you may go dancing fearlessly and with the utmost lightness of foot. You will be as safe as if you were at home with me."
"How safe is that?" Eddi asked.
The phouka's gaze was measuring. "My, you're full of many-faceted questions this morning."
-War for the Oaks by Emma Bull