Books (Jan 2016)
I always start the year so well with book posts! Maybe re-activating my goodreads account will help me keep this up...
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose
The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger
The Martian by Andy Weir
Flying Finish by Dick Francis
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson (art by Christine Larsen)
These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose (non-fiction, religion, culture)
I want to give this book to everyone I know - Christians and non-Christians alike - and say "read this and then come and have an interesting, passionate discussion with me about the difference in how each group views the other, and the bits we get right and the bits we get wrong, and how we being willing to non-judgementally experience things from the other side would be a really good exercise for us all!!" *pauses for breath*
Even though my evangelical Christian background is a fair bit different (and extremely balanced in comparison!) to the one experienced by Roose at Liberty there were so many moments in this where I lol'd (and/or winced) at the accuracy. With his outsider view, Roose finds some of the stuff Christians are brought up with weird in a secular setting, but is able to concede that in some instances this isn't a problem - it can engender good habits, a sense of personal happiness and security, and can help reduce the pressures of the outside world on students.
There is the dark side though as expected. It made me sad to read that these kids were being educated terribly (from a purely academic sense for starters), not to mention with an agenda that keeps them in the dark about so many things. The book doesn't pull shy away from Roose' struggle to reconcile the generally great people he meets at Liberty with its general view on homosexuality, creationism, and mission, and the fact that no matter how nice and normal the university can seem, it's an incubator breeding a sense of ignorance that does no one any good.
So yeah...so much food for thought, well-written, and with a clear eye for the truth - an excellent read.
The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger (non-fiction, film, history)
An exploration of the 'star machine' that was the studio system in the 30s, 40s and 50s - the making of the legends of cinema in the supposed golden age. This is a great, but long, read for classic film buffs interested in the creation of narratives offscreen as well as on, who don't mind knowing how the sausage gets made.
Basinger smartly chooses to focus on the lesser known lights (at least a modern day audience) across the spectrum of actors put through the machine - from the unqualified successes, to the malfunctions, the oddities, and so on - and charts the way the studios tinkered and adapted to change as the industry was built up. I did find that Basinger's love of her subjects meant some overenthusiastic praise and overly detailed tangents in parts, while other areas are elided - she doesn't directly address subjects that surely impacted on some of these actors' trajectories apart from the public's adoration of them, such as race and sexuality.
Overall, I really enjoyed the deep dive into the career mechanics, and I'm interested in digging up some of the early 30s/40s films mentioned here with actors I'm unfamiliar with and see if the 'star quality' shines through even now.
The Martian by Andy Weir (science fiction, contemporary)
The movie was a very faithful adaptation, apart from a few minor narrative changes, so let's be honest - the movie is better. The book isn't bad but it's very detailed and it's more concerned with the Mark's problem solving than weaving a full story so at times it can really drag ('sure, tell me more about how many valves are on this piece of canvas'). I do like the science/engineering ingenuity but I wanted to know more about the bigger picture of leaving a man on Mars, you know? Meanwhile the movie has the luxury of shortcutting the technical components while allowing more perspectives to bleed through and paint in some of the emotional/human interest aspects. The writing is competent and Mark's voice really comes through well, but like I've already pointed out, it doesn't quite have the full range to be captivating and great.
Flying Finish by Dick Francis (fiction, detective mystery, thriller)
I found this a bit hard to finish, not because it was bad, but because the last section is so brutal and scary and wearing. I expect the Francis hero to get knocked about usually, but there was so much collateral damage in this one, and the ending while hopeful doesn't exactly resolve as neatly and happily as a lot of the others do. And it's particularly striking because the beginning builds slowly with Henry being such a controlled figure that the strength of his emotion for Gabriella (and Patrick to a lesser extent) makes the violence and danger all the more intense.
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson w/ art by Christine Larsen (fiction, YA, queer, grief & loss)
Drew haunts the hospital where his family died, and tries to outrun Death, and keep her from taking the ones he's come to love from his time in the place where death always stalks.
Um, I honestly don't know how to feel about this book. I read it to the end but I don't think I enjoyed it at any part, and yet I can't say I disliked it either. At points I felt it was a little like a queer The Fault in Our Stars, but that's being unkind and selling it short. It was just a lot of emotion, and some part of me recognised the sad, irrational thoughts and actions of people not dealing with their mental health problems, and some part of me was so frustrated by the tension and drama drawn out. And if you have triggers, you may want to investigate if this book is really for you, because it has a lot of potentially problematic elements.
The illustrated superhero story is interesting but I don't know if I buy it, nor does it feel like it's well woven into the narrative at times, but I applaud it for trying something different, even if the story beats turn out to be pretty much as you expect.
These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen (fiction, contemporary, friendship)
At first I thought this quite a typical example of the genre - young career women struggling in the city with a dash of romance and personal troubles - but as it developed I was pleased with Pekkanen fulfilling the promise in the key theme of female friendship. So I felt a bit more forgiving of the over-stuffed story, but there were times where it all just felt a bit OTT, as all three leads are hiding secrets in their past with varying degrees of melodrama involved, and some plot points are raised without being resolved and were clearly thrown in to up the drama stakes. Luckily Pekkanen's writing helps to ground it somewhat. I personally found it hard to like and sympathise with Abby, but thought Renee and particularly Cate, and the insight into their inner lives, came across well.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose
The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger
The Martian by Andy Weir
Flying Finish by Dick Francis
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson (art by Christine Larsen)
These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose (non-fiction, religion, culture)
I want to give this book to everyone I know - Christians and non-Christians alike - and say "read this and then come and have an interesting, passionate discussion with me about the difference in how each group views the other, and the bits we get right and the bits we get wrong, and how we being willing to non-judgementally experience things from the other side would be a really good exercise for us all!!" *pauses for breath*
Even though my evangelical Christian background is a fair bit different (and extremely balanced in comparison!) to the one experienced by Roose at Liberty there were so many moments in this where I lol'd (and/or winced) at the accuracy. With his outsider view, Roose finds some of the stuff Christians are brought up with weird in a secular setting, but is able to concede that in some instances this isn't a problem - it can engender good habits, a sense of personal happiness and security, and can help reduce the pressures of the outside world on students.
There is the dark side though as expected. It made me sad to read that these kids were being educated terribly (from a purely academic sense for starters), not to mention with an agenda that keeps them in the dark about so many things. The book doesn't pull shy away from Roose' struggle to reconcile the generally great people he meets at Liberty with its general view on homosexuality, creationism, and mission, and the fact that no matter how nice and normal the university can seem, it's an incubator breeding a sense of ignorance that does no one any good.
So yeah...so much food for thought, well-written, and with a clear eye for the truth - an excellent read.
The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger (non-fiction, film, history)
An exploration of the 'star machine' that was the studio system in the 30s, 40s and 50s - the making of the legends of cinema in the supposed golden age. This is a great, but long, read for classic film buffs interested in the creation of narratives offscreen as well as on, who don't mind knowing how the sausage gets made.
Basinger smartly chooses to focus on the lesser known lights (at least a modern day audience) across the spectrum of actors put through the machine - from the unqualified successes, to the malfunctions, the oddities, and so on - and charts the way the studios tinkered and adapted to change as the industry was built up. I did find that Basinger's love of her subjects meant some overenthusiastic praise and overly detailed tangents in parts, while other areas are elided - she doesn't directly address subjects that surely impacted on some of these actors' trajectories apart from the public's adoration of them, such as race and sexuality.
Overall, I really enjoyed the deep dive into the career mechanics, and I'm interested in digging up some of the early 30s/40s films mentioned here with actors I'm unfamiliar with and see if the 'star quality' shines through even now.
The Martian by Andy Weir (science fiction, contemporary)
The movie was a very faithful adaptation, apart from a few minor narrative changes, so let's be honest - the movie is better. The book isn't bad but it's very detailed and it's more concerned with the Mark's problem solving than weaving a full story so at times it can really drag ('sure, tell me more about how many valves are on this piece of canvas'). I do like the science/engineering ingenuity but I wanted to know more about the bigger picture of leaving a man on Mars, you know? Meanwhile the movie has the luxury of shortcutting the technical components while allowing more perspectives to bleed through and paint in some of the emotional/human interest aspects. The writing is competent and Mark's voice really comes through well, but like I've already pointed out, it doesn't quite have the full range to be captivating and great.
Flying Finish by Dick Francis (fiction, detective mystery, thriller)
I found this a bit hard to finish, not because it was bad, but because the last section is so brutal and scary and wearing. I expect the Francis hero to get knocked about usually, but there was so much collateral damage in this one, and the ending while hopeful doesn't exactly resolve as neatly and happily as a lot of the others do. And it's particularly striking because the beginning builds slowly with Henry being such a controlled figure that the strength of his emotion for Gabriella (and Patrick to a lesser extent) makes the violence and danger all the more intense.
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson w/ art by Christine Larsen (fiction, YA, queer, grief & loss)
Drew haunts the hospital where his family died, and tries to outrun Death, and keep her from taking the ones he's come to love from his time in the place where death always stalks.
Um, I honestly don't know how to feel about this book. I read it to the end but I don't think I enjoyed it at any part, and yet I can't say I disliked it either. At points I felt it was a little like a queer The Fault in Our Stars, but that's being unkind and selling it short. It was just a lot of emotion, and some part of me recognised the sad, irrational thoughts and actions of people not dealing with their mental health problems, and some part of me was so frustrated by the tension and drama drawn out. And if you have triggers, you may want to investigate if this book is really for you, because it has a lot of potentially problematic elements.
The illustrated superhero story is interesting but I don't know if I buy it, nor does it feel like it's well woven into the narrative at times, but I applaud it for trying something different, even if the story beats turn out to be pretty much as you expect.
These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen (fiction, contemporary, friendship)
At first I thought this quite a typical example of the genre - young career women struggling in the city with a dash of romance and personal troubles - but as it developed I was pleased with Pekkanen fulfilling the promise in the key theme of female friendship. So I felt a bit more forgiving of the over-stuffed story, but there were times where it all just felt a bit OTT, as all three leads are hiding secrets in their past with varying degrees of melodrama involved, and some plot points are raised without being resolved and were clearly thrown in to up the drama stakes. Luckily Pekkanen's writing helps to ground it somewhat. I personally found it hard to like and sympathise with Abby, but thought Renee and particularly Cate, and the insight into their inner lives, came across well.