Being Sick, the One Goal, and Some Books
I have been sick all week, to the extent that I was forced to take off work and do nothing more than lay on the couch, watch crappy reruns, and moan in a rather zombie-ish fashion. I even developed a slight fever on Wednesday for a short while. It's been a long while since I've had to take off work for being sick, especially two days in a row. It's been even longer since I've had a fever.
I am mostly recovered now with slight sniffles and a lingering cough.
Next to nothing was accomplished on my days off. I should think this understandable since accomplishing things is contradictory to getting proper rest.
However, I do have one major goal for this week, and that is hopefully to finish off the rough draft of this short story I'm writing. I'm hoping that I can get it edited in time to submit to the anthology market I started writing it for. We'll see.
* * *
I also wanted to put up my monthly book post. So, here are the five books I've read in January:
1. Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld (****)
In an alternate history, the European powers are separated into Darwinists and Clankers. Darwinists (represented by England, France, and Russia) have developed the ability to genetically engineer creatures to suit any purpose. Clankers (represented by Germany and Austria-Hungary) have developed highly complicated and advanced, steam-powered war machines. When an Austrian diplomat is killed, the world finds itself on the brink of war. Alex, a Clanker, and Dylan, a Darwinist and girl disguised as a boy, soon find themselves wrapped up in the middle of an escalating political conflict.
I really enjoyed this book, which is told from the point of view of two very different young people, both of whom must hide their true identities for very different reasons. My only disappointment with this book was realizing that it is part of a series, which means that I will have to wait for the next book in order to finish reading the story.
2. The Dew Breaker, by Edwidge Danticat (***1/2)
"Your father was the hunter," he confesses, "he was not the prey." Thus, the "dew breaker" as he was called confesses to his daughter his past as a prison guard adn torturer in Haiti. The following chapters center about the father, some from the point of view of his family and some of his former victims.
It's not my favorite of Danticat's books. The individual stories that make up each chapter are just a little too disconnected for me. I couldn't always see the connection between the characters, except that they are all tied to Haiti and often the brutality encountered there. However, Danticat draws all the richness the human experience out of her clean and simple lines, and each chapter taken on it's own offers real world characters who experience sorrow, love, regret, and redemption.
3. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols, by Michael P. Spradlin (****)
Just as the title says, this is a collection of carols for the undead and lovers of the undead. The title alone caused me to laugh out loud, but the book itself was even more fun. The instant reaction, of my friends and family, as well as myself, upon picking up this book was to either break into song, or to try to get someone else to break into song.
Each zombie carol lets you know which accompanying song it's meant to be in the tune of. For example, "Zombie Yells" is sung with the tune of "Jingle Bells" and so forth. It was fairly easy to pick up and keep the correct tune. Though there were definitely some lines that were forced to fit the tune and rhyme scheme, so that the line didn't make sense or the singer had to stumble a bit, but for the most Spradlin did a good job of matching the correct lines to the song.
I really only wish that I had received this gift before Christmas so that I could have initiated some zombie caroling on the holiday itself.
4. Stitches: A Memoir, by David Small (*****)
Stiches tells a haunting story of abuse, the most horrifying of which is his parents refusal to tell him that he had throat cancer, even after he woke up from surgery at fourteen incapable of speaking.
The art in this graphic novel is some of the most beautiful I've seen. The use of gray-toned water color to shade and add depth to the vivid drawings gives the characters and world a kind of ghostly, insubstantial quality, which seems to me to be the nature of memory. This is a book I'm definitely going to have to own, if just for the opportunity to gaze at the art again and again.
5. There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (****1/2)
Modern settings and dark undertones make for fascinating collection of what the editors dub scary fairy tales. Some examples of the tales: A family is forced to hole up and hide from strange disease infects the city. A woman encounters a friend who has married Poseidon's son. A family migrates to the country in an attempt to escape the collapse of society.
What seems to make them fairy tales or folk lore as opposed to simply fantasy and science fiction stories is the tone of the writing combined with the use of modern day archetypes. For example, in the title story the classic witch is transformed into a jealous neighbor who tries to get rid of her friend's baby.
The first few stories didn't quite grab me, but the later stories (the Allegories and Fairy Tales) seemed to have more depth to them, and I was completely fascinated.
I am mostly recovered now with slight sniffles and a lingering cough.
Next to nothing was accomplished on my days off. I should think this understandable since accomplishing things is contradictory to getting proper rest.
However, I do have one major goal for this week, and that is hopefully to finish off the rough draft of this short story I'm writing. I'm hoping that I can get it edited in time to submit to the anthology market I started writing it for. We'll see.
* * *
I also wanted to put up my monthly book post. So, here are the five books I've read in January:
1. Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld (****)
In an alternate history, the European powers are separated into Darwinists and Clankers. Darwinists (represented by England, France, and Russia) have developed the ability to genetically engineer creatures to suit any purpose. Clankers (represented by Germany and Austria-Hungary) have developed highly complicated and advanced, steam-powered war machines. When an Austrian diplomat is killed, the world finds itself on the brink of war. Alex, a Clanker, and Dylan, a Darwinist and girl disguised as a boy, soon find themselves wrapped up in the middle of an escalating political conflict.
I really enjoyed this book, which is told from the point of view of two very different young people, both of whom must hide their true identities for very different reasons. My only disappointment with this book was realizing that it is part of a series, which means that I will have to wait for the next book in order to finish reading the story.
2. The Dew Breaker, by Edwidge Danticat (***1/2)
"Your father was the hunter," he confesses, "he was not the prey." Thus, the "dew breaker" as he was called confesses to his daughter his past as a prison guard adn torturer in Haiti. The following chapters center about the father, some from the point of view of his family and some of his former victims.
It's not my favorite of Danticat's books. The individual stories that make up each chapter are just a little too disconnected for me. I couldn't always see the connection between the characters, except that they are all tied to Haiti and often the brutality encountered there. However, Danticat draws all the richness the human experience out of her clean and simple lines, and each chapter taken on it's own offers real world characters who experience sorrow, love, regret, and redemption.
3. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols, by Michael P. Spradlin (****)
Just as the title says, this is a collection of carols for the undead and lovers of the undead. The title alone caused me to laugh out loud, but the book itself was even more fun. The instant reaction, of my friends and family, as well as myself, upon picking up this book was to either break into song, or to try to get someone else to break into song.
Each zombie carol lets you know which accompanying song it's meant to be in the tune of. For example, "Zombie Yells" is sung with the tune of "Jingle Bells" and so forth. It was fairly easy to pick up and keep the correct tune. Though there were definitely some lines that were forced to fit the tune and rhyme scheme, so that the line didn't make sense or the singer had to stumble a bit, but for the most Spradlin did a good job of matching the correct lines to the song.
I really only wish that I had received this gift before Christmas so that I could have initiated some zombie caroling on the holiday itself.
4. Stitches: A Memoir, by David Small (*****)
Stiches tells a haunting story of abuse, the most horrifying of which is his parents refusal to tell him that he had throat cancer, even after he woke up from surgery at fourteen incapable of speaking.
The art in this graphic novel is some of the most beautiful I've seen. The use of gray-toned water color to shade and add depth to the vivid drawings gives the characters and world a kind of ghostly, insubstantial quality, which seems to me to be the nature of memory. This is a book I'm definitely going to have to own, if just for the opportunity to gaze at the art again and again.
5. There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (****1/2)
Modern settings and dark undertones make for fascinating collection of what the editors dub scary fairy tales. Some examples of the tales: A family is forced to hole up and hide from strange disease infects the city. A woman encounters a friend who has married Poseidon's son. A family migrates to the country in an attempt to escape the collapse of society.
What seems to make them fairy tales or folk lore as opposed to simply fantasy and science fiction stories is the tone of the writing combined with the use of modern day archetypes. For example, in the title story the classic witch is transformed into a jealous neighbor who tries to get rid of her friend's baby.
The first few stories didn't quite grab me, but the later stories (the Allegories and Fairy Tales) seemed to have more depth to them, and I was completely fascinated.