sholio | A few books I've read lately

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A few books I've read lately

Since I'm not currently working, I have been reading a lot. In a way, this is good, because I have a backlog of books-to-read a mile high. Hopefully it'll lead to me writing more at some point, though ...

Mild spoilers for the books under the cuts, but nothing massive. Well, except for a long and possibly more spoilery rant about Tigerheart.

Tigerheart by Peter David - Verdict: AVOID! You would think that Sir Apropos of Nothing would have taught me a lesson, but I keep trying to slog through Peter David's books. I'm pretty sure this is the last one I'm ever wasting my time on, though. The thing I kept asking myself throughout this book was "Why did he even bother writing this?" It's a retelling of Peter Pan, essentially the exact same story, with all the sexism and racism and unpleasantness of the original not only still intact but ratcheted up to eleventy-one. This book doesn't function as a new commentary on the original book. It doesn't subvert anything. It just tells the same story except with a boy in the main-character position rather than Wendy (though Wendy is still there, sort of, she's just shoved to one side; not only is this book a lot more surface-textual about the original's "women are mommies, boys have adventures" subtext, but Wendy loses the agency and central role that she originally had!). The scenes at the "Indian" village were so ugly and unpleasant that they left me wanting a shower. After reading the book, I skimmed a couple of reviews to try to figure out why the hell this book is getting so much good press. I guess that the general consensus amongst reviewers is that David's satirizing the sexism and racism and narratorial style of Victorian children's lit, but my verdict is that it's a bad satire, because he's playing it totally straight. Somehow the reviewers seem to think that most people are going to find it totally revolutionary that there's some unpleasant stuff in their fairy tales. But if you already get it in the original books (which I think most of us do, post-age five, if we're going to get it at all), then this book just reads as nasty and unpleasant rather than mind-blowing; if you don't already get it, I doubt if this book is going to do it. Yuck.

Besides, if David was actually (as the reviewers seemed to believe) making a serious point about girls being sidelined in Victoriana so that boys can have adventures, he's, er, wrong. I mean, he's partly right in that the kids' roles are fairly strongly gender-defined (which is not surprising considering the society in which they live) but that doesn't mean that the only options are "mom staying home" and "boys having adventures". Even in Peter Pan, Wendy (while definitely and explicitly cast in the "mom" role) wasn't a doll on a shelf. She enjoyed the dream world just like her brothers. She had a pet wolf and a little house on the beach; she met mermaids and pirates and had adventures herself. And what about Alice? Dorothy? The more that I thought about it, the more I felt like David's either a) written a blindingly sexist retelling of a classic book by total accident, or b) that he's, in a cluelessly well-meaning kind of way, trying to hold my hand and explain that I am VERY VERY OPPRESSED and there's no place for me in Victorian kid-lit even though I might have mistakenly thought there was, and I think I resent that EVEN MORE.

The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett - It was really interesting reading these books right around the same time I read the above. I am not sure if Pratchett intended this book to deal with some of the same ideas as Peter Pan, but it does, and it works, much much MUCH better than Peter David's version. I don't know how much I can express my adoration for Tiffany Aching, who is sensible and smart and does the dirty jobs because they need doing, and that's not a bad thing. You never, never feel as if the author looks down on her for it. Reading these books right after Tigerheart, in fact, was what got me to realize the aspect of that book which had bothered me so deeply (see the paragraph above this one), because Pratchett doesn't do it even though he's working with similar ideas. One of the things that I love most about Pratchett's books is that he's so deeply sympathetic to his characters, and I also love how he does poor rural folks -- not glossing over their flaws nor presenting them as objects of pity or derision.

I'd already "met" the Nac Mac Feegle awhile back in Carpe Jugulem, but I could seriously read about them all day. :D These books are just awesome.

Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley - This book uses a similar chatty narrative style as Sunshine, and I found it similarly wearing after a while, even though I think she does a marvelous job of seeding her world-building naturally into the narration -- it's just that I prefer a more transparent and less, well, wordy style of narration. But I was still sucked in by the unfolding story of a modern-day dragon sanctuary and the boy who jeopardizes it through an act of compassion. I am an awful sucker for stories about dragons, and even though I found some of this book predictable, it was a good kind of predictable -- the "beloved sort of story going in the direction you hope it will" kind. And I really adore stories with fantastic elements in the modern world.

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan - Sarah Brennan is

sarahtales, whose blog I've been watching for a while because she's massively entertaining on pretty much every topic she talks about. I can "hear" her blog voice in this book, especially in one character's dialogue. As to how I feel about the book ... it's sort of a mixed bag? I really disliked the main character, Nick. The thing is, I thought she did a marvelous job of writing and characterizing him -- it's just that I didn't like him very much as a person, and found his viewpoint fairly unsympathetic (though well depicted). And I kept feeling manipulated by the author, especially at the beginning, the same way that some h/c fics make me feel manipulated, or TV shows that cast a lead actor who is obviously supposed to be Appealing To The Female Set. I felt like the author was throwing out a handsome brooding (asshole) hero and his brooding angsty brother, and expecting to reel me in on the basis of that, and my reaction was a fairly strong knee-jerk "Ha! You won't get me so easily!" for both of them and the angst they rode in on. I do not like feeling manipulated.

On the other hand, I utterly loved the supporting characters, brother-sister pair Mae and James, and I spent most of the book wishing that it had been about them instead; they wandered in and out, but were never really in it enough to suit me. And then the last few chapters sucked me in, and kinda hit a few of my narrative kinks pretty hard -- so I think the jury's still out; I'm definitely keeping it and will almost certainly be reading the sequel, but it's probably a library read rather than a buy-it-now kind of read for me.

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I have Demon's Lexicon on my wishlist. It's really not my thing, but I adored some of her HP fics (though I thought Underwater Light was horrible, and that's the one everyone raves about), so I'm curious to see how she does with original fiction.

And wow, that Peter David book sounds HORRIBLE. D:

I would actually LOVE to discuss Demon's Lexicon with you, if you ever get around to reading it. The thing about the main character in that book is that he's not at all neurotypical, and I think she did a really good job of conveying that in a believable way while at the same time I am ... not entirely sure that she realized that's what she was doing? I can't talk too much more about it without revealing the big twist in the book; I cannot remember off the top of my head how you feel about spoilers, but I would be happy to chat about the spoilery aspects of it if you want me to.

I'd usually rather be unspoiled if it's a twist. But when I read it, I will post a review, of course, and we can talk about it then! :D

Sounds like a plan! :)

The thing about the main character in that book is that he's not at all neurotypical, and I think she did a really good job of conveying that in a believable way while at the same time I am ... not entirely sure that she realized that's what she was doing?

This article (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/06/25/the-big-idea-sarah-rees-brennan/) might go towards answering that question. Anyway, it's an interesting article. :)

Hmmm! Thank you for the link!

The interview kinda nails down a couple of things for me -- one, I really *don't* like that character archetype unless it's heavily subverted in some way (except for a handful of individual exceptions -- of which Rochester IS one, but I know it!), which kinda explains why I had so much trouble with the character, and two, no, she *wasn't* trying to write him non-neurotypical (i.e. on the autism spectrum or something of that nature) but he came out that way anyway, which is ... interesting; I can't figure out whether it makes me less or more uncomfortable with the way he comes across as a protagonist!

I recall a post she did... or maybe it was in response to a comment? where someone asked whether she meant the character to be autistic. The answer was a definite no (for one, there'd be ugly implications attaching this particular character to autism for spoiler reasons) but, IIRC, he was supposed to be not "normal" in the way he interacted with the world.

What should be interesting is, I believe the sequel is being written from Mae's pov.

I didn't think it was horrible but I was definitely disappointed by Underwater Light, especially after the gloriousness of If You've a Ready Mind which I love to the eleventy millionth degree. UWL doesn't hit its stride until the third or fourth chapter and the beginning is really confusing: it's difficult to place in time and the way the plot functions is hard to figure out at first.

Which huh. I thought I'd re-read the story and it's been taken down. *cries* I've never been in HP fandom so I apparently missed the big "you must dl this fic now before I remove it from the ether forever" notice and apparently there's been a fair amount of kerfluffleage over people trying to find copies of her stories. That is a huge ass shame. I hate when people take down their fics like that.

Oh, I downloaded the file of all her stuff when she put it up, but I recently cleaned off my HD and tossed it since I figured I probably wouldn't get around to reading any of them.

But yeah, she's one of those ones who deleted everything when she went pro, which is a shame. I really don't see any need to do that. It just seems like paranoia.

*nods*

I don't understand why that's necessary either.

Not to mention that the discussions I found weren't about fans taking her work and posting it back up somewhere on the internet to an archive or whatnot but about fans emailing the pdfs to each other. Bizarro world.

...she's one of those ones who deleted everything when she went pro, which is a shame. I really don't see any need to do that. It just seems like paranoia.

Yeah ... though most of the writers I know (including me) who write both pro and fan stuff do it under different names (I used to write fic under my real name, about a decade ago, but I haven't done it in a very long time), and most of those who pull it down seem to be those who conflated their fan and pro identities very closely, either writing fic under their real name or using their fan blog to promote their original novels.

But then you have people like Steven Brust and (I always feel like inserting a disclaimer before typing this name) Elizabeth Bear, who post fanfic very openly under their pro writer names. I hope that the more people who do this, the less stigma will be attached to it. I think that I wander in some kind of middle ground -- I don't post my fanfic under my real name, but I also don't bend over backwards to hide it, and all it takes is a minute or two of googling and logical deduction to figure it out if someone really wants to know.

I think that I wander in some kind of middle ground -- I don't post my fanfic under my real name, but I also don't bend over backwards to hide it

This seems an emminently sensible position to me.

Even if I don't think deletion is necessary to be a pro-writer, I would very much respect a person's wishes not to have hir work reposted to an archive or a site after ze'd requested it be removed. I don't quite get why a fanficcer turned pro-writer would be upset about having hir stories emailed privately among fen, but *shrugs*

As it is highly unlikely that I will ever be a famous profic writer or even an unfamous profic writer LOL, I think it's safe to say that I may never know. :)

I missed the chance, too. *sigh* I read one once, went back months later to see if she had posted anything new, and... *poof.* I spent a fair amount of time searching for copies, but she did an astonishingly good job of getting rid of all traces. And here I thought nothing on the internet ever truly disappeared!

I never read the whole thing because every site it was on had some sort of formatting problem that made it almost unreadable and since the writing wasn't that good and the plot at the beginning was dumb, I didn't feel it worth continuing. It was one of her early stories, though, so obviously she got better.

Oh, Peter David. *shakes head*

I remember adoring his Star Trek books as a teenager, but I haven't read anything else he's written nor will I if this is what he's writing now.

It's really sad! I really liked his Star Trek books too -- he was one of my favorite authors writing tie-ins. But the last two books of his that I've tried have been pretty miserable experiences. There are just too many books out there to keep bothering with someone whose books make me so uncomfortable. At I haven't given him money for them (one was given to me, and one was bought for like a buck at a used book store).

I agree. Life is certainly too short to slog through anything that makes you unhappy. :)

*sigh*
One of Peter David's Star Trek books is pretty much my ultimate comfort read.
I'm really sad the rest of what he touches seems so disappointing (I couldn't get past page 5 or so of Sir Apropos)

*nods* I really loved his Star Trek books when I was a teenager (he was the only writer who really got Q!) and I also enjoyed some of his superhero writing. Which is why I gave him another chance after Sir Apropos, but I think that's the last chance he's getting out of me for a while.

I know! I loved the way he wrote Q--this wonderful mix of arrogance and vulnerability and alien that was so compelling to read. It doesn't hurt that John de Lancie played the character so magnificently.

Oh wow!

Peter David jumped the shark for me when he rewrote his Arthurian comedy Knight Life and took out my favorite parts.

Have you read Lords And Ladies yet? That's the first Discworld book with the Nac Mac Feegles, or pictsies. I love the little blue buggers, too. From a safe distance.

Demon's Lexicon, I agree. I loved her HP fanfic, but the plottwist explaining why Nick is an unlikeable asshat wasn't worth spending two hundred some pages with the POV character being an unlikeable asshat.

Oh, was that the one with Feegles? I thought it was Carpe Jugulem. Or maybe they're in both ...

Yeah, I really enjoy them, but from a long ways away! :D

...but the plottwist explaining why Nick is an unlikeable asshat wasn't worth spending two hundred some pages with the POV character being an unlikeable asshat.

Yes, that, exactly! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who had that problem. I also couldn't figure out how the author wanted us to react to Nick -- she did a really good job, as it developed over the course of the book, of conveying his thought processes as just being different, and believably so, whether he's viewed as a human who just doesn't really have any empathy (basically a psychopath), or a non-human intelligent entity. But I kept feeling like the author's expectation was that we'd find him likable, and, well, cute in his general inability to relate sympathetically to the people around him, and I didn't.

Nods. I got the feeling that we were supposed to find Nick the 'hot brooding bad boy.' It's very rare for me to like that type of character.

I actually found myself really liking Demon's Lexicon. One of my narrative kinks is, as I've been discovering lately, characters who are emotionally stunted, so that hit *that* button right on the head. And omg, the twist-- I totally did not see it coming!

I know quite a few people who liked the book. :) I think part of the problem is that I don't really go for dark brooding heroes unless there's quite a bit of tongue-in-cheek or trope-subversion to the way they're portrayed (though I guess I should say "except when I do", since I love Jane Eyre *g*) -- this was too much dark-n-brooding and not nearly enough subversion for me, I guess. Which doesn't mean it's a problem for other people to like it, of course!

I've always liked the story of Peter Pan -- or rather the idea of it, with all it's problems and nightmarish undertones and possibilities. But yeah, the Peter David version really didn't do it for me. You might try Dave Barry and Ridley Pierson's Peter and the Starcatchers (http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Starcatchers-Ridley-Pearson/dp/0786854456), for a completely different take -- and one where the girl has a chance to be the hero! It's kind of goofy, but I thought it was fun, and the sequels were enjoyable. And then there's another one that just came out -- I haven't read Childthief (http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061671333/Child_Thief_The/index.aspx), so I don't know if it'll be any good, but it looks interesting. MUCH darker -- kind of an apocalyptic take on the Peter Pan mythos.

I haven't yet read that part of the Pratchett library. . . I think I need to move it up on my list!

Book! ♥

Ahhhh, the Tiffany Aching books! They make me happy. And not because of interesting angst or button-pushing - they make me happy because they're good books and Tiffany's one of my favorite protagonists ever and FEEGLES. XD

Ever since reading those books, me and

shayera have had a lot of PLNs. (It's BRILLIANT. It happens to me all the time. I have a cunning plan! It's... a PLN! You know the kind. The kind where you're all aboard with the awesomeness of the general idea, but the details - meh, they'll sort themselves out later, right?)

I'm really glad you liked Dragonhaven! I was a little worried - I know a lot of people disliked the narrative style. I didn't hate it - I thought it was interesting! - but I could also see how it'd be annoying. But the story itself - aww. ♥ It's a cool take on dragons. I approve!

The Demon's Lexicon - well, like I said: the next book is written from Mae's POV. So you'll get more Mae & Jamie - as will I! And this is a good thing. They were soso adorable.

And thanks again for recommending Fly By Night! Great read. I'm still bummed it's over. (But my copy of the book came with an interview with the author, where she says her next project is another book about Mosca & co! Because she's not done with them yet. ♥)

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A few books I've read lately

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