Camping, and the books I read while doing same
Home for the fourth/third of July weekend! Camping = love. I love our campsite, I love our beach, I love our lean-to and our firepit and our hammocks. I read four books in one day. I made five fires. Book reviews!
The Magician's Nephew, A Horse and His Boy, and The Last Battle: ARG. I wanted to like Narnia. I really, really did. I succeded in liking The Magician's Nephew, it was cool. Until the part with the apple tree, I found the religious symbolism bearable! I liked most of A Horse, until it got to the part where Aslan's all, "I was all those cats and lions and shit, love me!" It mostly reminded me of this Point/Counterpoint from the Onion: It Was Then That I Carried You VS. Bullshit, Jesus, Those Are Obviously My Footprints. But you know, only the Jesus part. And the Last Battle is just one long boring "All non-ChristiansNarnians suck! There was only one good person in all of the Calormenes in all the time this world has existed!" Shut up, C. S. Lewis.
I liked the Garth Nix books, even though each one felt like a chapter in the overall series. I have no idea how it's going to end, which is really nice.
My Terry Pratchett book was AWESOME. Go read all his books! Now! It's weird, because this one (Going Postal) is Young Adult, but it has more swearing than his other books, and starts with a hanging. It was much more like the one with the guy with the printing press… what's it called? Oh, this will drive me insane. Well, it's more like that one than the Wee Free Men, or the other YA ones.
The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer was kind of eh. I mean, I couldn't say, specifically, what wasn't that great about it, it was just eh.
THIS PARAGRAPH IS SPOILERY. IF YOU PLAN ON READING THIS BOOK IN THE FUTURE, MOVE ALONG. Eragon… I kind of don't know what to say. I mean, it was good, but it was also like, a collision of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings in terms of basic plot structure. He has special abilities! His parentage is mysterious! His uncle is murdered by his enemies! He makes a friend on the road who only is out for himself! I think at one point, the guy says something like, "No man's life is more important than my own." Hello, Han Solo wannabe. And the battle scene at the end! With Arya coming to the battle, it was very evocative writing, but it was evoking the scene with Eowyn and Aragorn in the middle of the Two Towers. Also, Arya is the biggest Mary-Sue who ever Mary-Sued. She couldn't do or say anything without being described as "slender" or "beautiful" or "the most goddamn perfect woman who ever walked the earth, excuse me, our pretentiously named continant that has a million vowels and friggin' UMLAUTS in it." Arg annoying and stupid names! But the guy's like, 19. So he gets a break. And I think he'll get better.
Right now I'm in the middle of Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It is SO AWESOME. Everyone go read it right now. I'll post more about it when I finish it, but I highly recommend it, especially to all you religious types, at least those of you who aren't easily offended. I wonder how actually believing in Christ would change my opinion of the book…
Also coming later, my picture of lightning! There was this incredible storm on the other side of the lake the first night we got there, and I watched it for about half an hour, taking pictures at random intervals until I got one! It's so cool.
Tomorrow I'm going strawberry picking. Man, you haven't lived until you've eaten a sun-warmed strawberry right off the plant. YUM.
The Magician's Nephew, A Horse and His Boy, and The Last Battle: ARG. I wanted to like Narnia. I really, really did. I succeded in liking The Magician's Nephew, it was cool. Until the part with the apple tree, I found the religious symbolism bearable! I liked most of A Horse, until it got to the part where Aslan's all, "I was all those cats and lions and shit, love me!" It mostly reminded me of this Point/Counterpoint from the Onion: It Was Then That I Carried You VS. Bullshit, Jesus, Those Are Obviously My Footprints. But you know, only the Jesus part. And the Last Battle is just one long boring "All non-ChristiansNarnians suck! There was only one good person in all of the Calormenes in all the time this world has existed!" Shut up, C. S. Lewis.
I liked the Garth Nix books, even though each one felt like a chapter in the overall series. I have no idea how it's going to end, which is really nice.
My Terry Pratchett book was AWESOME. Go read all his books! Now! It's weird, because this one (Going Postal) is Young Adult, but it has more swearing than his other books, and starts with a hanging. It was much more like the one with the guy with the printing press… what's it called? Oh, this will drive me insane. Well, it's more like that one than the Wee Free Men, or the other YA ones.
The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer was kind of eh. I mean, I couldn't say, specifically, what wasn't that great about it, it was just eh.
THIS PARAGRAPH IS SPOILERY. IF YOU PLAN ON READING THIS BOOK IN THE FUTURE, MOVE ALONG. Eragon… I kind of don't know what to say. I mean, it was good, but it was also like, a collision of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings in terms of basic plot structure. He has special abilities! His parentage is mysterious! His uncle is murdered by his enemies! He makes a friend on the road who only is out for himself! I think at one point, the guy says something like, "No man's life is more important than my own." Hello, Han Solo wannabe. And the battle scene at the end! With Arya coming to the battle, it was very evocative writing, but it was evoking the scene with Eowyn and Aragorn in the middle of the Two Towers. Also, Arya is the biggest Mary-Sue who ever Mary-Sued. She couldn't do or say anything without being described as "slender" or "beautiful" or "the most goddamn perfect woman who ever walked the earth, excuse me, our pretentiously named continant that has a million vowels and friggin' UMLAUTS in it." Arg annoying and stupid names! But the guy's like, 19. So he gets a break. And I think he'll get better.
Right now I'm in the middle of Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It is SO AWESOME. Everyone go read it right now. I'll post more about it when I finish it, but I highly recommend it, especially to all you religious types, at least those of you who aren't easily offended. I wonder how actually believing in Christ would change my opinion of the book…
Also coming later, my picture of lightning! There was this incredible storm on the other side of the lake the first night we got there, and I watched it for about half an hour, taking pictures at random intervals until I got one! It's so cool.
Tomorrow I'm going strawberry picking. Man, you haven't lived until you've eaten a sun-warmed strawberry right off the plant. YUM.