Book/Manga/Concert Recs, as of 10/14/11
In Books:
Uglies & Pretties, by Scott Westerfield: If there was ever a series that should be turned into a manga, it's this one. Westerfield's description of the Pretty People is a homogenized manga vision waiting to happen, with larger eyes, smaller mouths, and cheekbones to die for. (Not to mention perfect teeth, symmetrical features, moving tattoos, perfect clothes, etc. etc.) And the good news is that the manga is forthcoming! I look forward to reading it. However, the books themselves, as they are now, are quite good, too. They can truly be classified as "page turners". I went through the first one in about three days, and that's saying something, considering that I've been managing a fussy one-year-old, two classes, and various other commitments. The world that Westerfield imagines is dystopia at its worst best (or best worst, whichever you prefer.) On a post-apocalyptic Earth, all children are raised to believe they are Ugly, but that's OK, because they'll be made Pretty on their sixteenth birthdays. Except... what if you don't want the operation? And who's really in charge of what's considered beautiful? (One of the most chilling details of the books is that all Pretties have the same color skin, on the basis that it's the most Pretty and eliminates conflict.) The heroine of these books is Tally Youngblood, who starts off as a reluctant participant in what appears to be a minor rebellion, but ends up taking more and more perilous risks for what she believes in. (I haven't read the third book of the series yet, so please no spoilers.) I am very pleased in these books exist in contrast to the emphasis on physical beauty at all costs that seems to permeate American society and hope that readers will question standards of beauty as a result of reading these works. Hand this to your nearest teen reader!
The Baker Street Letters, by Michael Roberston: Harmless, but pointless. Two brothers, who I could never get a mental picture of (because there were no descriptions of them in the story), rent law offices from the bank that has its premises on 221B Baker street, and one of the conditions of their rent is that they deal with the letters that arrive for Sherlock Holmes. The younger brother, who has a variety of problems (most notably Plotdriveitis), sets off to LA to investigate two of these letters and his hapless sibling follows. Then there's some subterfuge involving the failed L.A. subway project, a few funny lines where the British brothers are mistaken for Australians, and a convoluted ending where one of the main characters is somehow ruined financially because he does the right thing. It was a fast read, but I couldn't really bring myself to care about anyone involved. At book group (which this was assigned reading for) I heard that this has been optioned for a TV series here in the U.S., and all I could think of was a snarky whine about this show doing its predecessor, Murder, She Wrote, proud. Yeah. Not a total waste of time, but not a good use of it, either.
The Ronin's Mistress, by Laura Joh Rowland: OMG OMG OMG. This series is SO GOOD! And it gets almost no attention or press, and I just want to weep. In this installment, Rowland gives us her interpretation of the popular 47 Ronin legend, complete with psychosexual drama, ritual suicide, and palace intrigue, all used to great effect. She also pushes her characters to their breaking points, in the best possible way. At this point in the story, our hero, Inspector Sano, has made so many enemies that the other shoe is going to have to start dropping, and soon. Rowland gets the drop started in fine fashion and parcels out some excellent character development for many of the regularly appearing characters, along with a truly engrossing murder mystery, told in a Rashomon-style multiple points of view approach. Of course, the thing that worries me is that the shoe is still dropping, and even though Sano solves the central mystery, he ends the story in a worse position than when he started. Future installments will no doubt have me shouting advice and recriminations at the characters, because nothing good can come from this, and I am very invested in almost everyone in the story. SO GOOD! Damn! You can start the series here, or at the beginning (Shinjuu), but either is well worth it! Damn!
In Manga:
Naruto, Vol. 28: I'm fairly excited to finally get past the time skip and see how all the characters have grown. But I'm worried that this story is teetering on the brink of the too-many-characters!chasm and the plot is about to focus on the characters I don't care about so much. I can see that Kishimoto wants to raise the stakes for our heroes (and token heroine) by elaborating on the villains and their elaborately slow and complicated plan. But I can tell I'm about to lose patience with said elaborate, slow plot, mostly because it doesn't have the ring of truth. It's one thing to have a "long con" plot device, but you have to keep referring to the con, somehow, even just in passing. ("I'm just biding my time here!" Thought Character X, as she faked a smile in Character Y's direction.) In the case of Naruto, the con appears to be so much waiting and seeing that I don't think it's ever going to stop being a con. Which is very frustrating, at least for this constant reader.
In Concert:
I had the good fortune to see The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring with a live orchestra and choir soundtrack last night. If this is touring in your city, I cannot recommend it enough. Howard Shore's score is beautiful, and the performance is moving and lovely, especially the performance of "May It Be" by a singer who I suspect is better than Enya (no autotune was necessary!).
Uglies & Pretties, by Scott Westerfield: If there was ever a series that should be turned into a manga, it's this one. Westerfield's description of the Pretty People is a homogenized manga vision waiting to happen, with larger eyes, smaller mouths, and cheekbones to die for. (Not to mention perfect teeth, symmetrical features, moving tattoos, perfect clothes, etc. etc.) And the good news is that the manga is forthcoming! I look forward to reading it. However, the books themselves, as they are now, are quite good, too. They can truly be classified as "page turners". I went through the first one in about three days, and that's saying something, considering that I've been managing a fussy one-year-old, two classes, and various other commitments. The world that Westerfield imagines is dystopia at its worst best (or best worst, whichever you prefer.) On a post-apocalyptic Earth, all children are raised to believe they are Ugly, but that's OK, because they'll be made Pretty on their sixteenth birthdays. Except... what if you don't want the operation? And who's really in charge of what's considered beautiful? (One of the most chilling details of the books is that all Pretties have the same color skin, on the basis that it's the most Pretty and eliminates conflict.) The heroine of these books is Tally Youngblood, who starts off as a reluctant participant in what appears to be a minor rebellion, but ends up taking more and more perilous risks for what she believes in. (I haven't read the third book of the series yet, so please no spoilers.) I am very pleased in these books exist in contrast to the emphasis on physical beauty at all costs that seems to permeate American society and hope that readers will question standards of beauty as a result of reading these works. Hand this to your nearest teen reader!
The Baker Street Letters, by Michael Roberston: Harmless, but pointless. Two brothers, who I could never get a mental picture of (because there were no descriptions of them in the story), rent law offices from the bank that has its premises on 221B Baker street, and one of the conditions of their rent is that they deal with the letters that arrive for Sherlock Holmes. The younger brother, who has a variety of problems (most notably Plotdriveitis), sets off to LA to investigate two of these letters and his hapless sibling follows. Then there's some subterfuge involving the failed L.A. subway project, a few funny lines where the British brothers are mistaken for Australians, and a convoluted ending where one of the main characters is somehow ruined financially because he does the right thing. It was a fast read, but I couldn't really bring myself to care about anyone involved. At book group (which this was assigned reading for) I heard that this has been optioned for a TV series here in the U.S., and all I could think of was a snarky whine about this show doing its predecessor, Murder, She Wrote, proud. Yeah. Not a total waste of time, but not a good use of it, either.
The Ronin's Mistress, by Laura Joh Rowland: OMG OMG OMG. This series is SO GOOD! And it gets almost no attention or press, and I just want to weep. In this installment, Rowland gives us her interpretation of the popular 47 Ronin legend, complete with psychosexual drama, ritual suicide, and palace intrigue, all used to great effect. She also pushes her characters to their breaking points, in the best possible way. At this point in the story, our hero, Inspector Sano, has made so many enemies that the other shoe is going to have to start dropping, and soon. Rowland gets the drop started in fine fashion and parcels out some excellent character development for many of the regularly appearing characters, along with a truly engrossing murder mystery, told in a Rashomon-style multiple points of view approach. Of course, the thing that worries me is that the shoe is still dropping, and even though Sano solves the central mystery, he ends the story in a worse position than when he started. Future installments will no doubt have me shouting advice and recriminations at the characters, because nothing good can come from this, and I am very invested in almost everyone in the story. SO GOOD! Damn! You can start the series here, or at the beginning (Shinjuu), but either is well worth it! Damn!
In Manga:
Naruto, Vol. 28: I'm fairly excited to finally get past the time skip and see how all the characters have grown. But I'm worried that this story is teetering on the brink of the too-many-characters!chasm and the plot is about to focus on the characters I don't care about so much. I can see that Kishimoto wants to raise the stakes for our heroes (and token heroine) by elaborating on the villains and their elaborately slow and complicated plan. But I can tell I'm about to lose patience with said elaborate, slow plot, mostly because it doesn't have the ring of truth. It's one thing to have a "long con" plot device, but you have to keep referring to the con, somehow, even just in passing. ("I'm just biding my time here!" Thought Character X, as she faked a smile in Character Y's direction.) In the case of Naruto, the con appears to be so much waiting and seeing that I don't think it's ever going to stop being a con. Which is very frustrating, at least for this constant reader.
In Concert:
I had the good fortune to see The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring with a live orchestra and choir soundtrack last night. If this is touring in your city, I cannot recommend it enough. Howard Shore's score is beautiful, and the performance is moving and lovely, especially the performance of "May It Be" by a singer who I suspect is better than Enya (no autotune was necessary!).