Reading Update #5 2007
As my mind was already programmed to the nineteenth century writing style (see Woman in White in the previous review) I decided to capitalise on the trend by working my way through the other older texts in my ever growing to read pile (most of which I ignore and at least one of which I intend to never read, despite dulthar's hopes). Of course, I didn't get very far before leaping genre again...
As a result, we have here the following:
Fiction
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
To my great shame, I must admit this is actually the first work by Conan Doyle that I have ever read; although I know of many of his works and his fame, I have never gotten around to reading any of them, even though taleya was quite the fiend for his stuff for a period in her youth (about the same time I was reading Gone With the Wind, I think, so perhaps that was my 'romantic' phase). It should not surprise anyone that I took the one with dinosaurs in it to read first.
The Lost World is your typical nineteenth century adventure fair. Adventure! Danger! Lack of women! Monsters! Heroics! Guns! Monkeys! Passive racism! And of course, all of this was done in the hopes of winning the love of a good woman.
While moments in the work make me cringe (attitudes to women and the natives of places visited - this book really displays some of England's imperialism at it's worst, not to mention it's scientific boo-boos), it's a fine adventure story, combining all the elements that make a good tale (see above). The journalist Malone, when he asks his lady's hand, is told that she could only love a hero. He then signs up to an expedition to prove that dinosaurs still exist in the modern day, in a 'lost world' (which has been coined as a scientific term for modern remnants of the ancient past, in honour of this book), certain this will win him his lady's love. But the course of adventures, heroes and true love never does run smooth, as Malone finds out - battling for his life in Argentina, struggling to return home and fighting to prove himself worthy of his lady's love.
A particularly funny point is the relation of the 'academic' conferences held in London at the time. The decorum (or rather lack thereof) is enough to make any modern scholar realise they have it good - heckling is now at least considered rude rather than routine.
The book harkens back to my childhood, where I read a lot of this style of work (both adventure and the nineteenth century authors), particularly the Reader's Digest editions of many works that I read voraciously. Ah, fond memories. *resists urges to dig out King Solomon's Mines again*
4 stars
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Speaking of texts operating well within the confines and ideology of their time, I moved on to read The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (incidentally the last of the collected short stories, but the first I read. As the stories are generally not sequential, this doesn't detract from the stories). Doyle depictions of characters are fascinating, not only due to his skill as a writer, but because of what they also tell us about him. Characters, when introduced, are invariably described by three key features - hair cut, moustache and shoes. Eye and hair colour are apparently less important in Doyle's world when compared to a man's stance and facial hair. Women are described as beautiful, pale and with flinty eyes if they are the protagonist or as homely, kind or 'handsome' if they are the victim.
Nineteenth century ideals are endemic in Holmes' cases - the very first story of this volume, 'The Adventure of the Illustrious Client' details the saving of a young woman from a bad marriage - blinded by love, she refuses to believe her fiance is a 'evil' man and it falls to Holmes to find evidence to persuade her. Clearly important work for England's premier detective. Women are often victims and the protagonists are often identifiable by some undesirable characteristic - which in Doyle's view translates to a limp, an odd gait, a deformity or an improperly trimmed moustache. Physiognomy is a concept played out in Doyle's works (the idea in which a person who is ugly or deformed on the outside must be similarly morally deficient, the opposite also being true: money or good looks is equated with moral uprightness).
Flaws aside - which are by no means Doyle's alone or even restricted to his time period - these are good stories to pass the time but not to tax the senses. Some of the cases are downright silly while others are solved due to Holmes having some mysterious yet crucial piece of knowledge at the denouement that is most improbable. Assumptions are rife in Holmes' 'detective work' that would certainly not stand up in a court today - but as Doyle points out, Holmes has never once stood in a dock, preferring to keep in the background of the criminal justice system.
The case of the vampiric wife, the case of the 'blanched' soldier, the case of a woman's home being ransacked hours only hours after she receives her dead son's effects - for the most part the stories are a good read, especially as tales of a bygone era.
3 stars
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson
I'd already read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde years ago (and I read it again!) so it doesn't count here, but the 'Other Tales of Terror' in this volume were new to me. The included an analytical essay on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (not by Stevenson) and an abridged essay on dreams (by Stevenson) as well as the two short stories 'The Body Snatchers' and 'Olalla,' both by Stevenson as well.
In 'The Body Snatchers' (supposedly inspired by the real life crimes of Burke and Hare), two gentlemen involved in the so called resurrection trade - in which one digs up fresh corpses and sells them to medical schools for dissection - cross paths again after some thirty years, prompting one to recount the tale of their time together and its hideous conclusion. In the end, this is a typical Gothic horror story - a character establishment, an event, a death, some time passing in which guilt is expressed and then a sting, at which point the story ends abruptly. The Gothic forms of short story are very different to that of the novel, wherein the point is to make a statement about human behaviour (usually involving agony and torture of the soul) whereas a short story is solely interested in setting the stage to give you a sharp fright and give you the willies. Yet the type of fright can vary wildly - from psychological down to plain old horror (i.e: blooooood).
Psychological horror is the order of the day in the next story - the tantalising 'what if.'
In 'Olalla,' a man meets a woman - Olalla by name, who may be more - or less - than she seems, which makes her all the more tantalising to him. Is she an innocent woman or the root of a great evil?
I love it. I especially love the expression of horror in such formal English as was the style in the ninteenth century - it gives the words more weight to my mind and adds to the spooky nature of it all. This is psychological horror at its best. There is less of the gore in 'Olalla' and more a steady path downwards - you start from certain assumptions which are gradually eroded away and you are left as suspicious as the locals. But is the suspicion founded, or has Olalla been done a terrible wrong?
Time to read some more Poe, I think! :)
4 stars
The Case of Thomas N. by John David Morley
This book is a psychoanalytical piece, about memory and sense of self, particularly the question: can one have a sense of self if one doesn't know who they are? Thomas N is a boy of about 16 or so who is found on a park bench in modern day London. He has no memory of his life before this day, or how he came to be there. He knows nothing of who or what he is and there are no clues to aid him in his discovery. He lives day to day, trying to fit into the unfamiliar world around him, until the day he wakes up next to the headless corpse of a woman. Did he kill her? He honestly can't remember. Thomas is then plunged into a world of confusion and suspicion wherein (to quote the book's jacket) 'memory and identity themselves are on trial.'
I actually had never heard of this book until my housemate and I were discussing books we just couldn't get into (which evolved from my dislike of The Waves by Virginia Woolf, discussed further down). She produced this one, one of her high school texts that she had been completely bewildered by. She gave it to me with instructions to 'read it and tell me what the hell it means!' Unfortunately for her, while I liked the book, I think she found its material unsatisfying.
I loved it. It was thrilling, convoluted and filled with implications and hidden clues. It's one of those books that excites and frustrates - you get titillating hints, but in the end many questions remain unsolved. If you like analyses of human behaviour and 'art-house' style books, you'll love this. What is a sense of self? Is there such a thing as a motiveless crime? And who the hell is Thomas?
5 stars
Note to crazyjane13 - read this! I think you'll like it lots.
Carrie by Stephen King
I first tried to read this at thirteen and remember having trouble with it. Funnily enough read IT about a year later no worries, but never got around to reattempting Carrie. I found it in a bin for $5 so I though, why not?
Carrie White is a 'loser' (hus, It fans!) - disliked by everyone simply because she is different. Her mother is a religious fanatic, crushing her daughter under the weight of her religious fervour, whilst her classmates heckle her endlessly - she's weird, she's ugly, she's fat. Her physical and psychological tortures by her classmates are a central feature of shaping her character - in the end, Carrie is a product of those around her.
When Carrie discovers she has telekinetic powers, she realises that she now has the opportunity to mould her own life and strike back at those who have hurt her - for good or ill. And tonight is the night of the prom...
It's actually fairly light on the gore and violence for Stephen King - hardly surprising for his first novel - but pulls no punches in the interaction of his characters. They are motivated by various means - greed, guilt, selfishness, love, hatred and religion - but he doesn't soften the actions the people do, even under the best of intentions. The opening scene is enough to put most squeamish people off - female body functions and thrown tampons hardly being the reading choice of most people - but it hits home hard, as intended, showing the innate cruelty of children and how this cruelty has far reaching consequences.
I could write a whole essay (or perhaps diatribe) on the parallels between the treatment of Carrie and the modern day school shootings - the only difference is the weapons used. I suspect most of the motivations are the same and I firmly believe that high school subculture (here too, but particularly in the US) needs to be forcibly changed, because the current culture only encourages violence, discrimination, persecution and ultimately death. But that would be a topic to be detailed another day.
Overall, the book was enjoyable, but doesn't reach the heights that other works by King do - it contains a couple of errors and the plot is jerky in parts, although whether this is due to King developing his writing style or the format of the work is unclear. Some of the characterisations also leapt tracks, as well, I felt - character's motivations change completely without clear indications as to why and this let's the story down somewhat. I'll probably read it again at some point - but not for a few years.
On another note - Yay! I finally read a book that had a character named Tom who wasn't a bastard! So of course, the character died...
3 stars
Shades of Death by Aline Templeton
A typical British murder mystery, set over a timespan of twenty years. The skeleton of a young girl is found in a cave, setting off a chain of events that leads local police into investigating a childhood gang with eerie interest in the Egyptian afterlife.
I think this book probably would have done incredibly well in sales if it had been called 'The Egyptian Game.' Egypt always piques people's interests and the fact that the Egypt element is a relatively minor aspect is irrelevant - other books have been named on similar grounds with less reason.
Overall, it was a fairly good read, well paced, very readable and with the usual twists and turns you expect from a murder mystery story. Very typical of the genre, and good if you want to read something that won't challenge you. It was also good to read something British for a change - I've read a fair amount of American literature lately, and it's fun to return to the literature forms that are very familiar from when I was younger.
3 stars
Thunder God by Paul Watkins.
I was incredibly disappointed in this book. Not because it was terrible all the way through, but because it began well, read well, was interesting and then two thirds of the way through became so implausible that I was thoroughly irritated.
Thunder God follows the story of Hakon, a Norse youth who, after being struck by lightning, is chosen to train for the priesthood. But when raiders come and plunder his village, dragging him into slavery, the course of his life changes.
The descriptions of life in the period were pretty good and Watkins has a beautifully lyrical turn of phrase at points (unfortunately not entirely consistently). An example is from the first paragraph of the book:
'There are no ghosts,' my mother said, 'nor demons, or monsters or devils.' Every night, kneeling by the bed, she whispered these words to my sister and me. Darkness pooled around us, held back only by the weak and greasy flame of a lamp.
The last thing I would see were her lips, pursed as if to kiss the fire, and ripples of shadows round her eyes. I would hear the rustle of her breath, the pop of the flame as it went out and the smell of smoke as it brushed past my face.
In the end, I think it is modern notions that are the undoing of this book. While Watkins is very good at envisioning what the world looked like back in the day, he lacks the understanding of individuals living in that time and instead warps their motivations to suit a modern ideology that simply didn't exist in the past. I particularly disliked the fact that he allowed his good plot to be hijacked by an aggressively hostile atheistic view: in the end, the characters become disillusioned from all faith and sink into a meagre, mundane existence, no longer enriched by their belief in the supernatural around them. They end up full circle, but without faith now to sustain them and this is portrayed as somehow better than the peace with their world they felt before.
In this sense it reminds me very much of a George Orwell novel, A Clergyman's Daughter. Has anyone else read that?
2 stars
Beowulf translated by Marc Hudson.
The story? You all know the story - it's awesome. A village is being terrorised by a monster, so they ask the mighty hero Beowulf to destroy it and deliver them from it's ravages (standard epic stuff). But Beowulf finds it not so easy to destroy the evil ravaging the town - unexpected problems pop up, showing the life of a hero really does suck. Good and evil are prominent themes in the work, along with heroism, duty and burdens of responsibility.
If you are someone who isn't fond of poetry, this really isn't for you - the author aims to keep the shape of the saga (although I'm not sure that's the right term here, I believe saga may refer to a more specific group of epic poetry from Europe rather than England - yep, Beowulf is thought to have been written by an English monk. Surprised?) in it's original form as much as possible, thankfully without translating it to rhyming English (a pet peeve of mine, I feel it is an unnecessary distortion of the text for aesthetic reasons). Unfortunately, this does make the reading a little hard at times - sentences start and break off mid line, sometimes making it difficult to follow a train of thought. I do suspect this translation may have been better served as prose.
This version, whilst claiming to be for general readers, fails to actually be such in crucial ways. Key terms and approaches are not described and the translation is littered with outdated terms that are not explained. I think this instead would be a good text for a university course, where there is a teacher present to elucidate the awkward and confusing points in the text, rather than for the individual reader with little to no background in translation or Old English history.
I also realised yet again my uber-geek status when I was reading the notes on the editions, versions and the translation from Old English to Modern English (as well as a convoluted essay on literal vs paraphrase vs free translation) and I was enjoying it immensely. I'm an irredeemable dork. :D
As a side note, if you like this sort of stuff, I strongly recommend Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead, which is a retelling of the Beowulf story as historical fiction rather than fantasy. It was made into the gory yet good movie The 13th Warrior starring Antonio Banderas.
4 stars
Non Fiction
The Penguin Book of Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
I decided to read this to brush up on my Viking myths following reading Thunder God (before I started Beowulf, actually). The Norse religion was only really briefly touched on in that book and my knowledge of the religion is sparse enough that I am happy to learn more. This has always been an area where I've gone to dulthar for advice as he has looked into this area more than I have (and yes, this is his copy of the book I am reading).
The tales are set out as prose and the book is quite dense - it has almost 300 pages, including the index, but the text is quite small so much information is packed in. The myths are readable, approachable and enjoyable. They are taken from Old Norse accounts and Crossley-Holland gives careful notes about which stories are complete or incomplete. This is no kid's information book, it is designed for both dilettantes and professionals.
4 stars
Books Not Completed
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
As I've said in the past, I hate to leave a book unread - no matter how bad it is, I feel obligated to see it through to the end, as if I am intolerant by not finishing the work. It's illogical and silly, so I've been trying to find a balance between giving a book a fair chance and throwing off my guilt and not reading what I clearly feel is crap.
At this point only two books have been left unread. One is Clive Cussler's Atlantis Found and the other is more recent: Virginia Woolfe's The Waves.
I found reading The Waves very frustrating - a book written in a monologue style yet narrated by several characters, it read like the most trite poetry I've read - heavily overladen with simile and metaphor. I could barely get past the initial pages and I was disappointed, because I had never read any of Woolfe's work before and had been led to believe it was very rich and eloquent. I found it less eloquent and more pompous and overdone.
In my frustration, I read out sections of the book to dulthar to show how awful I found it - and had an incredible revelation. Whilst the book is painful to read, it is absolutely fantastic to read aloud. The words leap off the page and one can clearly envision the emotion and welcome the imagery presented when the book is absorbed in this way. I think it would be an excellent play. While it is in prose format, the book definitely reads like poetry (of which I am not terribly fond) which of course is made for speech (I can appreciate poetry aloud, but have great trouble with it written. Obviously my ears like poetry but my eyes do not).
So while the book is uncompleted for now, I will return to it when I have a bit more time to go over it more slowly and give it the time it needs. This will probably be summer, but hey, no rush. Perhaps this is something for other people to try - if you find a book overly eloquent, try reading it out loud!
Books so Far
Fiction - 21
Non Fiction - 9
Not completed - 2
The goal is 50 books overall, and I am this far along:
30 / 50
(60.0%)
As a result, we have here the following:
Fiction
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
To my great shame, I must admit this is actually the first work by Conan Doyle that I have ever read; although I know of many of his works and his fame, I have never gotten around to reading any of them, even though taleya was quite the fiend for his stuff for a period in her youth (about the same time I was reading Gone With the Wind, I think, so perhaps that was my 'romantic' phase). It should not surprise anyone that I took the one with dinosaurs in it to read first.
The Lost World is your typical nineteenth century adventure fair. Adventure! Danger! Lack of women! Monsters! Heroics! Guns! Monkeys! Passive racism! And of course, all of this was done in the hopes of winning the love of a good woman.
While moments in the work make me cringe (attitudes to women and the natives of places visited - this book really displays some of England's imperialism at it's worst, not to mention it's scientific boo-boos), it's a fine adventure story, combining all the elements that make a good tale (see above). The journalist Malone, when he asks his lady's hand, is told that she could only love a hero. He then signs up to an expedition to prove that dinosaurs still exist in the modern day, in a 'lost world' (which has been coined as a scientific term for modern remnants of the ancient past, in honour of this book), certain this will win him his lady's love. But the course of adventures, heroes and true love never does run smooth, as Malone finds out - battling for his life in Argentina, struggling to return home and fighting to prove himself worthy of his lady's love.
A particularly funny point is the relation of the 'academic' conferences held in London at the time. The decorum (or rather lack thereof) is enough to make any modern scholar realise they have it good - heckling is now at least considered rude rather than routine.
The book harkens back to my childhood, where I read a lot of this style of work (both adventure and the nineteenth century authors), particularly the Reader's Digest editions of many works that I read voraciously. Ah, fond memories. *resists urges to dig out King Solomon's Mines again*
4 stars
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Speaking of texts operating well within the confines and ideology of their time, I moved on to read The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (incidentally the last of the collected short stories, but the first I read. As the stories are generally not sequential, this doesn't detract from the stories). Doyle depictions of characters are fascinating, not only due to his skill as a writer, but because of what they also tell us about him. Characters, when introduced, are invariably described by three key features - hair cut, moustache and shoes. Eye and hair colour are apparently less important in Doyle's world when compared to a man's stance and facial hair. Women are described as beautiful, pale and with flinty eyes if they are the protagonist or as homely, kind or 'handsome' if they are the victim.
Nineteenth century ideals are endemic in Holmes' cases - the very first story of this volume, 'The Adventure of the Illustrious Client' details the saving of a young woman from a bad marriage - blinded by love, she refuses to believe her fiance is a 'evil' man and it falls to Holmes to find evidence to persuade her. Clearly important work for England's premier detective. Women are often victims and the protagonists are often identifiable by some undesirable characteristic - which in Doyle's view translates to a limp, an odd gait, a deformity or an improperly trimmed moustache. Physiognomy is a concept played out in Doyle's works (the idea in which a person who is ugly or deformed on the outside must be similarly morally deficient, the opposite also being true: money or good looks is equated with moral uprightness).
Flaws aside - which are by no means Doyle's alone or even restricted to his time period - these are good stories to pass the time but not to tax the senses. Some of the cases are downright silly while others are solved due to Holmes having some mysterious yet crucial piece of knowledge at the denouement that is most improbable. Assumptions are rife in Holmes' 'detective work' that would certainly not stand up in a court today - but as Doyle points out, Holmes has never once stood in a dock, preferring to keep in the background of the criminal justice system.
The case of the vampiric wife, the case of the 'blanched' soldier, the case of a woman's home being ransacked hours only hours after she receives her dead son's effects - for the most part the stories are a good read, especially as tales of a bygone era.
3 stars
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson
I'd already read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde years ago (and I read it again!) so it doesn't count here, but the 'Other Tales of Terror' in this volume were new to me. The included an analytical essay on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (not by Stevenson) and an abridged essay on dreams (by Stevenson) as well as the two short stories 'The Body Snatchers' and 'Olalla,' both by Stevenson as well.
In 'The Body Snatchers' (supposedly inspired by the real life crimes of Burke and Hare), two gentlemen involved in the so called resurrection trade - in which one digs up fresh corpses and sells them to medical schools for dissection - cross paths again after some thirty years, prompting one to recount the tale of their time together and its hideous conclusion. In the end, this is a typical Gothic horror story - a character establishment, an event, a death, some time passing in which guilt is expressed and then a sting, at which point the story ends abruptly. The Gothic forms of short story are very different to that of the novel, wherein the point is to make a statement about human behaviour (usually involving agony and torture of the soul) whereas a short story is solely interested in setting the stage to give you a sharp fright and give you the willies. Yet the type of fright can vary wildly - from psychological down to plain old horror (i.e: blooooood).
Psychological horror is the order of the day in the next story - the tantalising 'what if.'
In 'Olalla,' a man meets a woman - Olalla by name, who may be more - or less - than she seems, which makes her all the more tantalising to him. Is she an innocent woman or the root of a great evil?
I love it. I especially love the expression of horror in such formal English as was the style in the ninteenth century - it gives the words more weight to my mind and adds to the spooky nature of it all. This is psychological horror at its best. There is less of the gore in 'Olalla' and more a steady path downwards - you start from certain assumptions which are gradually eroded away and you are left as suspicious as the locals. But is the suspicion founded, or has Olalla been done a terrible wrong?
Time to read some more Poe, I think! :)
4 stars
The Case of Thomas N. by John David Morley
This book is a psychoanalytical piece, about memory and sense of self, particularly the question: can one have a sense of self if one doesn't know who they are? Thomas N is a boy of about 16 or so who is found on a park bench in modern day London. He has no memory of his life before this day, or how he came to be there. He knows nothing of who or what he is and there are no clues to aid him in his discovery. He lives day to day, trying to fit into the unfamiliar world around him, until the day he wakes up next to the headless corpse of a woman. Did he kill her? He honestly can't remember. Thomas is then plunged into a world of confusion and suspicion wherein (to quote the book's jacket) 'memory and identity themselves are on trial.'
I actually had never heard of this book until my housemate and I were discussing books we just couldn't get into (which evolved from my dislike of The Waves by Virginia Woolf, discussed further down). She produced this one, one of her high school texts that she had been completely bewildered by. She gave it to me with instructions to 'read it and tell me what the hell it means!' Unfortunately for her, while I liked the book, I think she found its material unsatisfying.
I loved it. It was thrilling, convoluted and filled with implications and hidden clues. It's one of those books that excites and frustrates - you get titillating hints, but in the end many questions remain unsolved. If you like analyses of human behaviour and 'art-house' style books, you'll love this. What is a sense of self? Is there such a thing as a motiveless crime? And who the hell is Thomas?
5 stars
Note to crazyjane13 - read this! I think you'll like it lots.
Carrie by Stephen King
I first tried to read this at thirteen and remember having trouble with it. Funnily enough read IT about a year later no worries, but never got around to reattempting Carrie. I found it in a bin for $5 so I though, why not?
Carrie White is a 'loser' (hus, It fans!) - disliked by everyone simply because she is different. Her mother is a religious fanatic, crushing her daughter under the weight of her religious fervour, whilst her classmates heckle her endlessly - she's weird, she's ugly, she's fat. Her physical and psychological tortures by her classmates are a central feature of shaping her character - in the end, Carrie is a product of those around her.
When Carrie discovers she has telekinetic powers, she realises that she now has the opportunity to mould her own life and strike back at those who have hurt her - for good or ill. And tonight is the night of the prom...
It's actually fairly light on the gore and violence for Stephen King - hardly surprising for his first novel - but pulls no punches in the interaction of his characters. They are motivated by various means - greed, guilt, selfishness, love, hatred and religion - but he doesn't soften the actions the people do, even under the best of intentions. The opening scene is enough to put most squeamish people off - female body functions and thrown tampons hardly being the reading choice of most people - but it hits home hard, as intended, showing the innate cruelty of children and how this cruelty has far reaching consequences.
I could write a whole essay (or perhaps diatribe) on the parallels between the treatment of Carrie and the modern day school shootings - the only difference is the weapons used. I suspect most of the motivations are the same and I firmly believe that high school subculture (here too, but particularly in the US) needs to be forcibly changed, because the current culture only encourages violence, discrimination, persecution and ultimately death. But that would be a topic to be detailed another day.
Overall, the book was enjoyable, but doesn't reach the heights that other works by King do - it contains a couple of errors and the plot is jerky in parts, although whether this is due to King developing his writing style or the format of the work is unclear. Some of the characterisations also leapt tracks, as well, I felt - character's motivations change completely without clear indications as to why and this let's the story down somewhat. I'll probably read it again at some point - but not for a few years.
On another note - Yay! I finally read a book that had a character named Tom who wasn't a bastard! So of course, the character died...
3 stars
Shades of Death by Aline Templeton
A typical British murder mystery, set over a timespan of twenty years. The skeleton of a young girl is found in a cave, setting off a chain of events that leads local police into investigating a childhood gang with eerie interest in the Egyptian afterlife.
I think this book probably would have done incredibly well in sales if it had been called 'The Egyptian Game.' Egypt always piques people's interests and the fact that the Egypt element is a relatively minor aspect is irrelevant - other books have been named on similar grounds with less reason.
Overall, it was a fairly good read, well paced, very readable and with the usual twists and turns you expect from a murder mystery story. Very typical of the genre, and good if you want to read something that won't challenge you. It was also good to read something British for a change - I've read a fair amount of American literature lately, and it's fun to return to the literature forms that are very familiar from when I was younger.
3 stars
Thunder God by Paul Watkins.
I was incredibly disappointed in this book. Not because it was terrible all the way through, but because it began well, read well, was interesting and then two thirds of the way through became so implausible that I was thoroughly irritated.
Thunder God follows the story of Hakon, a Norse youth who, after being struck by lightning, is chosen to train for the priesthood. But when raiders come and plunder his village, dragging him into slavery, the course of his life changes.
The descriptions of life in the period were pretty good and Watkins has a beautifully lyrical turn of phrase at points (unfortunately not entirely consistently). An example is from the first paragraph of the book:
'There are no ghosts,' my mother said, 'nor demons, or monsters or devils.' Every night, kneeling by the bed, she whispered these words to my sister and me. Darkness pooled around us, held back only by the weak and greasy flame of a lamp.
The last thing I would see were her lips, pursed as if to kiss the fire, and ripples of shadows round her eyes. I would hear the rustle of her breath, the pop of the flame as it went out and the smell of smoke as it brushed past my face.
In the end, I think it is modern notions that are the undoing of this book. While Watkins is very good at envisioning what the world looked like back in the day, he lacks the understanding of individuals living in that time and instead warps their motivations to suit a modern ideology that simply didn't exist in the past. I particularly disliked the fact that he allowed his good plot to be hijacked by an aggressively hostile atheistic view: in the end, the characters become disillusioned from all faith and sink into a meagre, mundane existence, no longer enriched by their belief in the supernatural around them. They end up full circle, but without faith now to sustain them and this is portrayed as somehow better than the peace with their world they felt before.
In this sense it reminds me very much of a George Orwell novel, A Clergyman's Daughter. Has anyone else read that?
2 stars
Beowulf translated by Marc Hudson.
The story? You all know the story - it's awesome. A village is being terrorised by a monster, so they ask the mighty hero Beowulf to destroy it and deliver them from it's ravages (standard epic stuff). But Beowulf finds it not so easy to destroy the evil ravaging the town - unexpected problems pop up, showing the life of a hero really does suck. Good and evil are prominent themes in the work, along with heroism, duty and burdens of responsibility.
If you are someone who isn't fond of poetry, this really isn't for you - the author aims to keep the shape of the saga (although I'm not sure that's the right term here, I believe saga may refer to a more specific group of epic poetry from Europe rather than England - yep, Beowulf is thought to have been written by an English monk. Surprised?) in it's original form as much as possible, thankfully without translating it to rhyming English (a pet peeve of mine, I feel it is an unnecessary distortion of the text for aesthetic reasons). Unfortunately, this does make the reading a little hard at times - sentences start and break off mid line, sometimes making it difficult to follow a train of thought. I do suspect this translation may have been better served as prose.
This version, whilst claiming to be for general readers, fails to actually be such in crucial ways. Key terms and approaches are not described and the translation is littered with outdated terms that are not explained. I think this instead would be a good text for a university course, where there is a teacher present to elucidate the awkward and confusing points in the text, rather than for the individual reader with little to no background in translation or Old English history.
I also realised yet again my uber-geek status when I was reading the notes on the editions, versions and the translation from Old English to Modern English (as well as a convoluted essay on literal vs paraphrase vs free translation) and I was enjoying it immensely. I'm an irredeemable dork. :D
As a side note, if you like this sort of stuff, I strongly recommend Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead, which is a retelling of the Beowulf story as historical fiction rather than fantasy. It was made into the gory yet good movie The 13th Warrior starring Antonio Banderas.
4 stars
Non Fiction
The Penguin Book of Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
I decided to read this to brush up on my Viking myths following reading Thunder God (before I started Beowulf, actually). The Norse religion was only really briefly touched on in that book and my knowledge of the religion is sparse enough that I am happy to learn more. This has always been an area where I've gone to dulthar for advice as he has looked into this area more than I have (and yes, this is his copy of the book I am reading).
The tales are set out as prose and the book is quite dense - it has almost 300 pages, including the index, but the text is quite small so much information is packed in. The myths are readable, approachable and enjoyable. They are taken from Old Norse accounts and Crossley-Holland gives careful notes about which stories are complete or incomplete. This is no kid's information book, it is designed for both dilettantes and professionals.
4 stars
Books Not Completed
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
As I've said in the past, I hate to leave a book unread - no matter how bad it is, I feel obligated to see it through to the end, as if I am intolerant by not finishing the work. It's illogical and silly, so I've been trying to find a balance between giving a book a fair chance and throwing off my guilt and not reading what I clearly feel is crap.
At this point only two books have been left unread. One is Clive Cussler's Atlantis Found and the other is more recent: Virginia Woolfe's The Waves.
I found reading The Waves very frustrating - a book written in a monologue style yet narrated by several characters, it read like the most trite poetry I've read - heavily overladen with simile and metaphor. I could barely get past the initial pages and I was disappointed, because I had never read any of Woolfe's work before and had been led to believe it was very rich and eloquent. I found it less eloquent and more pompous and overdone.
In my frustration, I read out sections of the book to dulthar to show how awful I found it - and had an incredible revelation. Whilst the book is painful to read, it is absolutely fantastic to read aloud. The words leap off the page and one can clearly envision the emotion and welcome the imagery presented when the book is absorbed in this way. I think it would be an excellent play. While it is in prose format, the book definitely reads like poetry (of which I am not terribly fond) which of course is made for speech (I can appreciate poetry aloud, but have great trouble with it written. Obviously my ears like poetry but my eyes do not).
So while the book is uncompleted for now, I will return to it when I have a bit more time to go over it more slowly and give it the time it needs. This will probably be summer, but hey, no rush. Perhaps this is something for other people to try - if you find a book overly eloquent, try reading it out loud!
Books so Far
Fiction - 21
Non Fiction - 9
Not completed - 2
The goal is 50 books overall, and I am this far along:
30 / 50
(60.0%)