Monday, January 24, 2011

Author Appreciation: E.M. Forster

There are authors out there who will win you over with their words. I won’t even try to deny it. If E.M. Forster walked up to me out of the blue and asked me to marry him, I would. Unfortunately, this will never happen because he is a) gay b) dead. I never really had a chance.
I think the main reason why I love him is because his stories aren’t really about plot, although it happens. He's a humanist and it shows. His novels are all about decency. That’s the only thing that matters to him, and although this sometimes has written his novels into strange narrative corners (Howards End, anyone? How on earth does Meg get pregnant? Really. I know how it supposedly happened, but I can’t really believe it. This is a man who married a prostitute to save her from the poorhouse or worse. He is not going to have sex with an unmarried lady.) But I have to agree, decency is everything.  Dear authors: do you want to make me cry? Don’t try so hard with the death and the despair. Instead, have someone be kind in spite of everything. I will be sobbing on the floor.
As well, Forster just understands people, and the way he writes is just… well read him. This is one of my favourite parts from A Room With a View.
It did not do to think, nor, for the matter of that, to feel. She gave up trying to understand herself, and joined the vast armies of the benighted, who follow neither the heart not the brain, and march to their destiny by catchwords. The armies are full of pleasant and pious folk. But they have yielded to the only enemy that matters – the enemy within. They have sinned against passion and truth, and vain will be their strife after virtue. As the years pass, they are censured. Their pleasantry and their piety show cracks, their wit becomes cynicism, their unselfishness hypocrisy; they feel and produce discomfort wherever they go. They have sinned against Eros and against Pallas Athena, and not by any heavenly intervention but by the ordinary course of nature, those allied deities will be avenged.
Forster catches out that moment of becoming that person, a moment that I’m rather afraid of, and describes it so that I know why I’m afraid that I could end up like that. I don’t know, I feel that he really understands (a certain group of) people. Maybe that didn't speak to you, I understand. I regularly have moments of ridiculous connection to certain characters. There's a reason why the book club at Queen's knew about my deep connection to Dorothea Brooke from Eliot's Middlemarch (also why The Cider House Rules changed my life). I do tend to go on about things.
Now, I have to admit that my Masters in English, which I finished in June, has sort of drained me. At the moment I have trouble reading "important" books.  I started A Passage to India this summer and I’m only a quarter of the way through. In fact, my copy got left behind in Ottawa. It probably doesn’t matter; I’ve been halfway through Dostoyesky’s The Idiot for a year now, and that one is actually in Montreal with me, glaring at me on my bookshelf. I guess my real reason for this author appreciation is to wish that I had the enthusiasm to read something really, intensely wonderful again. I am loving the young adult fiction, thrillers and mysteries that I have been reading, but I wish I had the strength for something sublime. I don’t know. Am I the only one who isn’t summoning my full reading strength? Is there someone else I should be trying to read? If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

CB#6 Flipped


 Flipped by  Wendelin Van Draanen         (YA)

                Getting mail is one of the loveliest things. It’s so much more exciting than an email and mail is even better when it’s a friend sending you a book.  Thanks Britt, for making my day when you mailed me an awesome novel.
                 Van Draanen has been on my radar for a while because I really like her Sammy Keyes mysteries. Keyes is a tomboy in middle school who secretly lives with her grandmother because her gran isn’t supposed to have anyone living with her. She sarcastic, loves softball and solving mysteries. Keyes is a really awesome character who does what she believes in and doesn’t go along with the flow. Juli Baker is the same. She raises chickens, she loves soccer and she’ll stay up in the old sycamore tree to try to save it from being cut down.
                The narration of Flipped switches between the two main characters: Julianna Baker and  Bryce Loski. In the second grade, Juli has a crush on Bryce from the first time she meets him. He’s just so cute, and she’s been waiting for a friend her own age for a while. Meanwhile, Bryce is just terrified of her and doesn’t like that she’s messy and so eager to be friends. The plot quickly zips along to the eighth grade, noting that all the while Juli’s had a crush on Bryce, while Bryce tries to completely avoid her.
                However, things are starting to change. Juli is slowly becoming aware that Bryce isn’t who she sees him as, and Bryce is starting to wonder if he’s been worried about the right things all along. I have a major saw that I like to harp on, which is that we often fundamentally misunderstand people so that we can continue to see the world as we like. There’s a way that we like to see things, and so when something or someone doesn’t fit our original view, we just misunderstand it so that our viewpoint continues to work, to our personal detriment. Juli sees Bryce as a good person who’s just really shy, mainly because he’s so good looking. Bryce sees Juli as annoying but is too scared to tell her that’s she’s coming on too strong. As well, he is completely focused on appearances, thinking that her house is a mess, and he worries too much about what other people think. Of course, the way they feel is going to flip, and maybe Bryce can change.
                In the Q & A in the back, Van Draanen  talks about being a teacher and noticing how her students always had crushes on such unworthy people. However, those people were cute or pretty, and as a teacher she couldn’t really say anything. I think Flipped really does try to show that appearances aren’t everything. As well, it honestly portrays the ridiculous moments of boy craziness that can happen to anyone, even smart, sensible girls. I remember middle school, and those stupid stomach flips and moments of going crazy over someone who wasn’t that special at all. My only thing to criticize is that I felt like Juli’s crush started too early for it to last for so long. Five years is a long time, especially if you aren’t really talking to him.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

CB #5 Mockingjay

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins    (YA)
                Possible spoilers to every book in the trilogy (I’m sorry)
I thought that this was the perfect conclusion to the trilogy. In fact, I feel like it’s the only right way for things to end.   The Hunger Games can be seen as about the way that suffering can be unreal entertainment when it’s not happening to you. The Capitol’s citizens don’t seem to realize that real children are dying as they watch it on the big screen. Innocents are forcibly destroying each other for their own survival, and the Capitol places bets. In Mockingjay, the fight comes to the Capitol and its children, but it doesn’t make everything better for those in the Districts. Instead Mockingjay is about the way that violence and power struggles can only be damaging. At least, that was how I saw it.
I’m not really going to comment on the narrative itself, but instead on the possible issues that people may have with it. I never saw this trilogy as being about a great love story. I felt that Katniss has too much to think about and do to have any time for romance. Sure there are two men for her to fall for, but I don’t think that Katniss understood either of them enough to really fall in love, until perhaps the very end. Especially in the first book, you saw how she went through the motions to keep both herself and Peeta alive.  For me, this trilogy is about the other kinds of love that exist: love for family members that is so strong that you’ll give up your life and your chances of happiness for them,  a love for truth that means you’ll sacrifice your life so that the “better” leader will survive the Games, and a love for friends. I can’t even see a Team Gale or a Team Peeta in this story, though apparently others have seen it this way. Katniss needs to survive long enough for her to have a life, before she can even think about love.
As well, in this novel we finally see the consequences of all of the fighting. None of the victors of the Games are fully themselves anymore. All the fighting means that they’ve lost any sense of stability they may have had before. I found this, though dark and troubling, very realistic. I honestly wouldn’t expect any of them to have stayed the same. I read another review just after finishing the books that said that Mockingjay was too dark in comparison to The Hunger Games. I have to disagree. Mockingjay is about consequences catching up to people. It’s about the complications of reality and politics. As well, The Hunger Games was about children killing each other, and that's never a cheerful subject.
Anyway, I really loved the trilogy and I would recommend it to anyone who loves dystopias or novels about political power struggles. If you liked the political aspects I would suggest that Megan Whalen Turner’s novels about Attolia, starting with The Thief. They’re set in a fictional kingdom in the past, but they’re as gritty and political as The Hunger Games.

CB #4 Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins  (YA)
                Catching Fire is definitely the second book in a trilogy. It has the non-beginning and non-ending that sometimes happens with trilogies (think Pirates of the Caribbean). It’s not necessarily the fault of the trilogy format, especially since The Subtle Knife is my favourite of the His Dark Materials trilogy and Back to the Future II is just plain awesome. However, it makes me wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to have the stories of Catching Fire and Mockingjay put in one book. NB: If you haven’t read Hunger Games yet, you might want to stop reading.

You're still with me? Katniss and Peeta survived the game, but now the Capitol is basically out to destroy Katniss and her family’s life. They can’t do this overtly, because their entire audience loved the star-crossed lovers who could not live without each other story that Katniss used to save both their lives. However, Captiol saw her actions as rebellion and as the spark that may convince the Districts to rebel against the Capitol. Now Katniss must use all her skill to  convince the Capitol that she really does love Peeta.
Now I did have a few issues with this book so if you haven’t read it, you won’t want to read further.
                I HATED the idea of the Quarter Quell using previous victors. I know it was just a way to get back at the Katniss. This time there would be no way to save Peeta and herself, so she’s going to want to sacrifice herself to save the better person. I was mainly bothered by the way it brought the Hunger Games back into the novel. I know it adds excitement and tension to the story, but it felt cheap. It felt like a repeat of the first novel. What did surprise me was how many of the previous victors weren’t completely mentally destroyed by their experiences in the ring. Haymitch, Katniss' mentor, is an alcoholic, and there are a few drug addicts, but otherwise the victors are surprisingly stable. One roommate noted that this was probably because those who survived the ring were mentally strong and had an incredible will to live, and would never do anything that would harm their ability to survive. Once again, I would be a complete mess if I survived anything like that. All I'd do is cry.
               There were still a few things that I liked about this book though. I liked that Peeta pretended that Katniss was pregnant with their child. It’s one way to make the audience in the Capitol remember that those who fight are people too. I also liked that Katniss and Peeta basically ignored each other for a while after the Games. Of course they were forced to go around the Districts on tour together, but for a while they could pretend to be differnent people.

CB #3 The Hunger Games

 The Hunger Games  by Suzanne Collins   YA
                Here’s the thing about living with a bunch of library students. When one person’s read something that she loves… well she really want to talk about it. So once two of my roommates had read The Hunger Games trilogy, I simply had to or else I would be left out of the conversation. It was definitely worth it, and highly engrossing. I read the entire trilogy in a week.
                The first novel,The Hunger Games, was described to me as “Survivor meets 1984”. I’d describe it as Battle Royale but they didn’t go to high school together. In the distant future, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event in which two children (12-18) are taken from each of the twelve districts of what remains of North America and forced to kill each other. The victor is the only survivor and he or she brings honor (and more food) to their district. In reality, the games are a way for the Capitol to demonstrate its power over the other states. Every year they kill some of the district’s children, and therefore some of the district’s hope for the future.
                Katniss is the narrator and she’s prickly. Or at least she likes to think so. I know that she’s supposed to be hardened, but in my mind she’s really sweet. When her sister’s name is drawn for the Games, Katniss immediately takes her place. She doesn’t even think. So for me, everything she does is coloured by that act, especially when she acts tough. Unfortunately, the other person from District 12 is Peeta, whose act of kindness towards Katniss helped her turn her life around and care for her family after her father’s death. It’s hard to know that you may have to kill the person who helped you save your life.
                Sometimes Katniss is a little bit too media savvy as she plays the Games. She knows that there are always cameras so she tries to do things to win over the audience. She knows that they can sponsor her and send her food, water, medicine and weapons. Sometimes her savvy comes across as a bit much. However, other than that she comes across as a real person. I’ll talk about her relationship with love in the review for Mockingjay, because I think it’s an overall series issue for sure.
                Overall, I loved this book and as soon as I finished it, I had to read the other two. I would like to mention that the participants in the Hunger Games are far more brave than I would be. The second I was able to, I’d run as far away as I could and then cry in a curled up ball until someone found me and killed me. Instead, Katniss is able to pick up some helpful items, make some allies and SPOILER (but it’s a trilogy so you knew this) survive.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

CB#2 Pretty Monsters

Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link           (YA) 
Sometimes short stories don’t have proper endings, and they’re all about capturing a moment or a feeling. You finish the story and you don’t feel completely satisfied, because the story isn’t about satisfaction or catharsis and you didn’t even realize it. It’s about unnerving you and capturing a feeling that you don’t even have words for. It’s about leaving you unsure about what you thought you knew. That’s how these stories work.
 The mishmash of horror and fantasy in the ten stories reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors. The first story is about a guy who, like Dante Gabriel Rossetti, buries his poetry with his girlfriend, later regrets it and comes back to dig it back up. Unfortunately, he dug up the wrong grave and a tattooed, undead girl comes after him. Also, his poetry really wasn’t worth it. Another story is about a handbag that contains a village. Of course it’s a faery handbag, so if you go in it for a day, years will have passed by the times you leave. There are stories about wizards who never seem to do anything, about ghosts who live on blood offerings, about aliens that appeared to a surfer and about the television shows that people watch inside of fiction.
I had two favourite stories. The title one, “Pretty Monsters”, and  “Magic for Beginners”. Pretty Monsters is about teen girls who are in that particular time frame when they actually are monsters. They’re needlessly cruel and willfully misunderstand things.  Also, they like to read romance stories about werewolves, but unfortunately werewolves aren’t really built for love, they’re all about eating. Also, people are never really ready for werewolves in real life. Magic for Beginners is about  a boy and the intense feelings, romantic and otherwise, that he has for his small group of friends. It’s also about his favourite tv show, which I have to say, I would love to watch. It’s called The Library and it’s about a crazy, magical library where there are pirates and the actors keep on switching roles and it never plays at the same time, or on the same channel. Honestly, I hope I end up working at an insane library like that. I would definitely chase down those pirate ruffians.

Monday, January 3, 2011

CB#1 Freak Magnet

Freak Magnet by Andrew Auseon              (YA)
                I was surprised by how much I loved this book. I had picked it up at the library with a ton of other books that were sadly duds, but this one was pretty amazing. It’s the story of a motormouth astronomy nerd named Charlie, who sees a beautiful girl named Gloria and decides that he has to tell her that she’s beautiful. She’s weirded out by this and adds his name to her Freak Folio, the work of poetry and drawings she does surrounding all the strange people who approach her. I know that it seems like a pretty crappy book with only that description.
                But that’s only how they meet. That’s only the first impression you get. As the book goes on I found out a lot more about Charlie and Gloria and I grew to really love them. Charlie loves astronomy because it’s a way to escape the more difficult parts of his life. His mom has Huntington’s and is deteriorating both mentally and physically. Sometimes she just whispers random words and sometimes she swears  at him and his father, calling them pieces of shit as they try to take care of her. He lives with his head in the clouds most of the time because it’s the only way he can live. Otherwise, it’s all too much. Gloria has her own problems too. Her brother Faris was killed while serving in Afganistan and it seems like all her mother wants to do is have elaborate fundraisers for the Arab American Advocacy Council. Gloria is stuck in one place by her own grief and can’t see anything outside of it. She can’t understand that her mother is mourning in her own way and that she is consistently making things harder for her mother by pushing her away. Charlie and Gloria keep on running into each other and slowly become friends and then more.
                This was another book that I found was about the way that relationships (romantic, familial and with friends) can save your life. Sometimes your life isn’t all that great and there’s nothing that you can really do about some of the worst things. However, people can save you by distracting you, accepting you and your problems, and simply being with you. The focus in Freak Magnet wasn’t just on the (possible) young love of Charlie and Gloria, but also on the way that Charlie’s dad loves and cares for his wife, the way that Charlie’s friend Edison tries to keep Charlie from getting caught up in too much, the way that Gloria’s sister and mother are still there for each other, even though they are diametrically different.
               

Sunday, January 2, 2011

This year's goal

So the plan for the year is to participate in Pajiba’s Cannonball Read (it explains things much better than I can). I’ve promised to read and review 52 books this year. The rules are that the works have to be at least 200 pages, and short story collections have to have at least 6 stories. The unspoken rule is it should be the first time that I’ve read it, because it’s all about honoring an awesome woman who loved to read. The challenge for me will be reading books I haven’t read before. I’m a serial  re-reader, which is both bad and good. It’s bad because I’m not expanding my horizons, but it’s good because my favourite books are different every time I read them.  As I change, the books change. However, to go along with the spirit of the challenge I’ll only use books I haven’t read before, or in extreme cases that I last read in high school.
Anyway, what I would love is some recommendations. Do you know a book that I would love? If you need examples look at what I’ve reviewed in the past. I know there’s a lot of YA in there, but other books that I’ve loved include Special Topics in Calamity Physics, The Secret History, A Room With a View,The Cider House Rules, Middlesex, Atonement (though I did throw it against the wall before I finished it), Vanity Fair and Middlemarch.