Books Read in December
1. The Victorian Internet, by Tom Standage (****)
The Victorian Internet tells the story of the telegraph. When the telegraph was invented and popularized it opened up the world to such an extent that its influence was comparable to the internet, changing the way information is received and distributed, the way business and governments operated, and even the way individuals carried on relations.
It was a new kind of communication and, at least for its operators, it allowed the kind of open conversing that appears in chat rooms, in which every individual can speak up in democratic manner. Operators even found themselves naming people across the country, whom they've never met, as closer friends than the living breathing people in their lives (sounds familiar). This was a fun, quick read that made me reassess my assumptions about telegraphic communication.
2&3. From the Earth to the Moon & A Tour of the Moon, by Jules Verne (****)
These books were originally published in two seperate novels. The second is not so much a sequel as it completes the storyline begun in From Earth to the Moon. In the peace after the American Civil War, the members of the Baltimore Gun Club are languishin in bordom, wishing for another war so that they can get back to the work of creating better guns, projectiles, and powder. Their leader, Impey Barbicane, suggests as a solution to their problem that they shoot a projectile to the moon. It's only a matter of time, of course, until someone decides that that projectile should be manned.
This was a thoroughly amusing tale. The characters aren't so much people as characatures, but they are quite amusing in the way they approach the problem of the projectile and their eventual tour within it. There's a sense of playful satire throughout. Verne was not the first to imagine a story in which people visit the moon, but he was one of the only ones to suggest a realistic vision of the journey.
4. The Onion Girl, by Charles De Lint (*****)
I love the way De Lint handles magic. He makes it so natural an ordinary, blended in with the everyday natural problems of life that I begin to hope to stumble upon one of his crow girls, or Dog Faced Joe, or Jilly Coppercorn with her bright, bright inner light, or any number of the wonderful characters that live in Newford. This was a fabulous novel, in which life is harsh and the answers don't come easily, but love can abound and heal in unexpected ways.
5. The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo, by Joe Sacco (***1/2)
This graphic novel doesn't so much cover Sacco's experiences in Sarajevo, as it looks into the life of one of its residents, Neven. Neven is a fixer, a man who connect advises and guides reporters through the war torn city. But when Sarajevo begins to find some stability and peace, this leaves Neven without work.
It's interesting to look at this man's life and how he sees the war and the people involved in it. It has a very news feel to it, which makes sense, because Sacco is a newspaper man. The artwork was gorgeous, with a thin line technique that made it look gritty in all the right ways, but that was also able to accent the cartoonyness of Neven's character at the right moments. However, I didn't really connect with anyone in the book, and maybe that was the point, but it left me cold.
6. Immortal Summer: A Victorian Woman's Travels in the Southwest : The 1897 Letters & Photographs of Amelia Hollenback, edited by Mary J. Straw Cook (***1/2)
Instead of their usual summer trip to London, Ameilia and her sister decided to travel into the southwest where they rode man style on horseback with spilt skirts, roughed it camping, and climbed up and down rock faces to visit ancient cliff dwellings. They were some of the first women to photograph the south west as tourists and if their letters are any indication, they loved every second of it.
I enjoyed seeing this kind of trip from the point of view of the women who lived it. They're letters are rather descriptive and detailed, if a bit flowery, because they loved the place so much and praised it so well. It's a short book, loaded with pictures from their trip. For the most part I enjoyed it, though at times it grew a bit tedious as letters home to family members can sometimes do.
7. The Green Ray, by Jules Verne (***1/2)
When Helena Campbell reads of the green ray in a local newspaper, she insists that she must see it, refusing to accept her uncle's plans for her to marry until she does. Thus she and her uncles sets off in an effort to see it with two potential suitors in tow.
This is not my favorite of Verne's books. In part this is due to the fact that it is more of a romance and because the main character is female. Neither of which he seems to write very well. He's much better at the boy's club grand adventures. However, I found enough humor and interest in this book to keep reading. I didn't mind much when it ended, though.
8. Buried Treasure: Poetry, Dan Bellm (***1/2)
Bellm tends to have a meandering style to his poetry, kind of like a running internal monologue. One thought bleeds into the next, the universal drawn down into personal experience. It took me a long time to read this book. Bellm tends to favor longer form poems, which require more focus and attention and several read throughs so that I can try to grasp the effect of the overall poem. I will probably need to read these poems again, sifting through them to grasp them. I tended to enjoy the shorter poems in the collection, which allowed me to follow the flow of thought in a more managable fashion.
9. The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers (****1/2)
Brendan Doyle is hired to act as a Coleridge expert by a wealthy millionare, who takes him through a gateway to meet the poet in the past. Powers fills this books with a fascinating cast of characters: a terrifyingly clown, a society of magicians wishing to restore the power of Egypt, a woman dressed as a man, a crew of beggars, and so on. The story is tightly plotted and I followed the journey through time with eager joy. A couple of times the writing style strayed into the confusing, and I had to go back and reread a page to make sure I was clear on what was happening, but overall I loved it.
10. Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, by Guy Delisle (***1/2)
Delisle shares described his time in Shenzen, where he worked as a director on an animated series. Most of his time is spent in boredom, because the city is geared toward straight business not tourists. There are only a few people who speak English in the city, so most of his time is spent in silence, too. But Delisle manages to make all of this apparent boredom and silence seem interesting an entertaining as he faces the day to day chaos and innefficiencies of his time spent in China. The art is also reather nice, full of shadows, which makes the city seem as lonely as Delisle describes it.