6-9 and happiness:)
I'm home again! Anyone in the area want to get together?
I saw The Avengers last night. It's fantastic, if you haven't seen it yet. I also saw the season finale of NCIS: Los Angeles (or at least, the end of it). At first, I was horrified (two of my favorite characters seemed to be getting removed from the series). Without going into too much detail, one of them is at the heart of the series; losing him would irreparably damage it. But after thinking about it, I think they're setting something up for the beginning of the next season that will be really fun. (They'd better - this is my favorite show, and he's my favorite character by far.)
I'm a bit behind on listing out the books I've been reading. Here's what I made it through over the course of the semester:
6. The Full Cupboard of Life, by Alexander McCall Smith
The fifth book in the Ma Precious Ramotswe series. Fun like the rest.
7. Face of Another, by Abe Kobo
Better than Woman in the Dunes. Not saying much, considering I hated Woman in the Dunes, but there you have it. Abe's writing is surreal. That's his style, so that's what you're going to get with him. Woman in the Dunes, if you don't remember what I initially wrote, was flat out unbelievable. The protagonist's actions made no sense, the antagonists' actions made no sense... the sand dunes, which almost act as another character in that book, made no sense. In contrast, Face of Another is written almost entirely in form of a set of notebooks written by the main character, who may be insane. So the unbelievability that you find in (apparently) all of Abe's works is palatable, because the dude's nuts. On the other hand, Abe commits another cardinal sin of writing: Face of Another is boring. Oh, don't get me wrong: the book's got interesting passages. It's just that a few passages here and there don't add up to an intriguing whole. The last hundred-fifty pages or so drag, as the main character's narration slides into an absolutely boring digression about sex that's just stupid. That may be the ultimate problem with Abe for me. All the surrealism is supposed (if you listen to various critics) to lead to a critical analysis of the human condition, in the form of the main character. Of the two books I've read, both protagonists sound at best stupid, at worst insane. I've learned nothing whatsoever about actual, real people from them. Worse, sometimes characters whose actions you disagree with spur you to think, but that didn't happen either.
8. In Praise of Shadows, by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro
A short treatise on Japanese aesthetics by a master. There are two ways to read this: seriously, or as something written by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro. (In case you can't tell, the second is the correct way.) I'd explain more, but I really recommend reading this one for yourself. It will be one of the best academic essays you've ever read, I promise.
9. The Serpent's Shadow, by Mercedes Lackey
The second book in Lackey's Elemental Masters series (though I thought it was the first when I read it). The Serpent's Shadow fills a hole in fantasy literature with it's Indian-English heroine. I had high hopes for this one, and they weren't quite fulfilled. It's not a bad book, but it's not her best, either. I'd recommend it as a beach read, but I do like the Five Hundred Kingdoms series best.
I saw The Avengers last night. It's fantastic, if you haven't seen it yet. I also saw the season finale of NCIS: Los Angeles (or at least, the end of it). At first, I was horrified (two of my favorite characters seemed to be getting removed from the series). Without going into too much detail, one of them is at the heart of the series; losing him would irreparably damage it. But after thinking about it, I think they're setting something up for the beginning of the next season that will be really fun. (They'd better - this is my favorite show, and he's my favorite character by far.)
I'm a bit behind on listing out the books I've been reading. Here's what I made it through over the course of the semester:
6. The Full Cupboard of Life, by Alexander McCall Smith
The fifth book in the Ma Precious Ramotswe series. Fun like the rest.
7. Face of Another, by Abe Kobo
Better than Woman in the Dunes. Not saying much, considering I hated Woman in the Dunes, but there you have it. Abe's writing is surreal. That's his style, so that's what you're going to get with him. Woman in the Dunes, if you don't remember what I initially wrote, was flat out unbelievable. The protagonist's actions made no sense, the antagonists' actions made no sense... the sand dunes, which almost act as another character in that book, made no sense. In contrast, Face of Another is written almost entirely in form of a set of notebooks written by the main character, who may be insane. So the unbelievability that you find in (apparently) all of Abe's works is palatable, because the dude's nuts. On the other hand, Abe commits another cardinal sin of writing: Face of Another is boring. Oh, don't get me wrong: the book's got interesting passages. It's just that a few passages here and there don't add up to an intriguing whole. The last hundred-fifty pages or so drag, as the main character's narration slides into an absolutely boring digression about sex that's just stupid. That may be the ultimate problem with Abe for me. All the surrealism is supposed (if you listen to various critics) to lead to a critical analysis of the human condition, in the form of the main character. Of the two books I've read, both protagonists sound at best stupid, at worst insane. I've learned nothing whatsoever about actual, real people from them. Worse, sometimes characters whose actions you disagree with spur you to think, but that didn't happen either.
8. In Praise of Shadows, by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro
A short treatise on Japanese aesthetics by a master. There are two ways to read this: seriously, or as something written by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro. (In case you can't tell, the second is the correct way.) I'd explain more, but I really recommend reading this one for yourself. It will be one of the best academic essays you've ever read, I promise.
9. The Serpent's Shadow, by Mercedes Lackey
The second book in Lackey's Elemental Masters series (though I thought it was the first when I read it). The Serpent's Shadow fills a hole in fantasy literature with it's Indian-English heroine. I had high hopes for this one, and they weren't quite fulfilled. It's not a bad book, but it's not her best, either. I'd recommend it as a beach read, but I do like the Five Hundred Kingdoms series best.