[Book Reviews] Pushcarts and twisting interactions
Kenji Tokitsu's "Ki and the Way of the Martial Arts" was a slender volume but a worthwhile read. Like its subject matter, the book can be un-helpful seeming on a shallow reading but yields layers of meaning with a deeper look. I particularly enjoyed his discussion of the ki element in kendo battles, and striking to win after the ki battle had already been won. I also enjoyed his discussion of the relationship between Zen practice, posture, and sitting ("a kata with one posture", ha!) and correct martial arts stances and centered awareness. This gets added to the ever-growing list of books I want to reread in ten years to see if my understanding of them shifts significantly.
Speaking of rereading books, I was reminded of my childhood favorite "The Pushcart War". I don't care if it is a children's book, it's still great. (I was very pleased that I still love it as much as an adult as I did when I was younger; it's so sad when all the magic rubs off something.) I do wonder if my parents regret giving me such a book; it's pretty much guerilla warfare for kids. You can see the sixties value ethics seeping off the pages as the pushed-around pushcarts decide that they've had enough, and strike back against the bullying trucks. Wenda Gambling reminds me of my Roaring Twenties-glam grandmother, and the only bad thing that I have to say about the book is that I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't real history after all. The characters are so charming that by all rights they *ought* to have existed. Recommended for all lovers of New York City, movie stars, and urban charm -- five pea-tacks from outer space out of five.
Continuing the tide of critical approval, I greatly enjoyed Henry Glassie's "Irish Folktales". Glassie is a well-respected folklorist, and he's done a good job of collecting varied and interesting tales, grouped loosely by theme. CR people, even the saints' legends in the second section are still worth reading. The tales are all attributed as to place of collection, folklorist, tale-teller, and year, so it's interesting to see what comes from where. There's not too much overlap with things I had already read; the collection was aimed to compliment Sean O'Sullivan's work, which I'll be reading next. I was surprised at his praise for Lady Gregory -- I thought she edited the tales she collected to conform with Victorian sensibilities, but apparently not always. The introduction alone would make this book worth picking up, as it's a history of the study of Irish folklore in the modern era, complete with biographical details of the people doing the work. Four wee beasties out of five.
I picked up Catherine Asaro's "Irresistible Forces" because it had a Miles Vorkosigan short story from Lois McMaster Bujold in it. While I thoroughly enjoyed the Vorkosigan adventure, I was dismayed to find out that the collection was a series of sci-fi/fantasy romance stories. (I'm not much of a romance reader.) Despite my initial "oh no", I gamely gave it a whirl anyway. I did enjoy the Elizabethan mage adventure -- fight the Spanish Armada with magic! Fall in love with an angry Scotsman! -- but the rest of the stories weren't so appealing to me. However, I know several of you are both romance and sci-fi fans, so you may well be interested in the collection. Three tempestuous affairs out of five.
Volume two of Esther Friesner's Amazon humor short story collection, "Did You Say Chicks?!", continued to be entertaining. I didn't pick this series up for years due to thinking that it was exactly the sort of sexpot-woman-warrior exploitation novel that it mocks, but it's actually quite funny. Most of the stories in it are good reads, and a few made me sympathetic. The woman warrior that can't get a date that doesn't want her to be a dominatrix (naturally, in exactly the way *they* want)? Soooo been there. Somehow, the idea that a woman in armor may not be there to fulfil your every sex fantasy often doesn't seem to penetrate. Pfft. Fun, lighthearted feminist humor without a heavy-handed message -- I give it four PMSing warriors out of five.
Finally got around to reading yuki_onna's "Apocrypha". I am such a sucker for anyone who can work Classical mythology over well. (Try, and either I will love you forever, or I will want to throw heavy things at your head. Ms. Valente's the former.) Her sibyls speak in resonant and sensual tones, and she doesn't club you over the head with "THIS IS MY DEEP AND LITERARY ALLUSION NOW" like many other authors do. The poems are often very sexual, and that may be a little much for the more reserved, but I think she's breathing appropriate life into her subject matter. (Leda and the Swan is not a nice tale.) I enjoyed her poetry more than the stream-of-consciousness prose inclusions; my brain absorbs smaller bites better. I wasn't so fond of the title piece, but I attribute that both to my favoritism towards poetry and my preference for the Classical over the Christian metaphor. Sometimes, though, she has perfect lines. (I laughed aloud at the "all post-coital philosophy is existential" one; it's so true.) Three and a half shrieking madwomen out of five.
I was a little disappointed by "True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier", mostly because I was expecting it to be something that it's not. The story "True Names" itself was an interesting landmark of speculative fiction, and the direct precursor to much of the way we think about cyberspace. I enjoyed the story. I did not enjoy the preceding 230 pages of essays about the story. Perhaps I would have if I'd been new to the field, but it was exactly like reading a bunch of old cypherpunks archives. I've heard all these arguments already. Also, I found it really irritating that all the "OMG this story is so great" essays came before the actual story. Bah. I skipped them all, went straight to the story, and read them afterwards. If you're going to present critical commentary, it helps a lot for people to have read what you're talking about first; I have no idea why they formatted it differently. Also, the "and then there's going to be this Singularity, and, like, we're all going to be super-evolved ascendent cyborgs the likes of which mankind cannot imagine!" techno-apocalyptic stuff really gets on my nerves. Same old Revelations, wrapped up in new tinfoil hats. At least admit that it's religion and not science. Or, y'know, guessing. Four red witches out of five for "True Names" itself, a crotchety two digital apocalypses out of five for the cyberspace frontier.
Speaking of rereading books, I was reminded of my childhood favorite "The Pushcart War". I don't care if it is a children's book, it's still great. (I was very pleased that I still love it as much as an adult as I did when I was younger; it's so sad when all the magic rubs off something.) I do wonder if my parents regret giving me such a book; it's pretty much guerilla warfare for kids. You can see the sixties value ethics seeping off the pages as the pushed-around pushcarts decide that they've had enough, and strike back against the bullying trucks. Wenda Gambling reminds me of my Roaring Twenties-glam grandmother, and the only bad thing that I have to say about the book is that I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't real history after all. The characters are so charming that by all rights they *ought* to have existed. Recommended for all lovers of New York City, movie stars, and urban charm -- five pea-tacks from outer space out of five.
Continuing the tide of critical approval, I greatly enjoyed Henry Glassie's "Irish Folktales". Glassie is a well-respected folklorist, and he's done a good job of collecting varied and interesting tales, grouped loosely by theme. CR people, even the saints' legends in the second section are still worth reading. The tales are all attributed as to place of collection, folklorist, tale-teller, and year, so it's interesting to see what comes from where. There's not too much overlap with things I had already read; the collection was aimed to compliment Sean O'Sullivan's work, which I'll be reading next. I was surprised at his praise for Lady Gregory -- I thought she edited the tales she collected to conform with Victorian sensibilities, but apparently not always. The introduction alone would make this book worth picking up, as it's a history of the study of Irish folklore in the modern era, complete with biographical details of the people doing the work. Four wee beasties out of five.
I picked up Catherine Asaro's "Irresistible Forces" because it had a Miles Vorkosigan short story from Lois McMaster Bujold in it. While I thoroughly enjoyed the Vorkosigan adventure, I was dismayed to find out that the collection was a series of sci-fi/fantasy romance stories. (I'm not much of a romance reader.) Despite my initial "oh no", I gamely gave it a whirl anyway. I did enjoy the Elizabethan mage adventure -- fight the Spanish Armada with magic! Fall in love with an angry Scotsman! -- but the rest of the stories weren't so appealing to me. However, I know several of you are both romance and sci-fi fans, so you may well be interested in the collection. Three tempestuous affairs out of five.
Volume two of Esther Friesner's Amazon humor short story collection, "Did You Say Chicks?!", continued to be entertaining. I didn't pick this series up for years due to thinking that it was exactly the sort of sexpot-woman-warrior exploitation novel that it mocks, but it's actually quite funny. Most of the stories in it are good reads, and a few made me sympathetic. The woman warrior that can't get a date that doesn't want her to be a dominatrix (naturally, in exactly the way *they* want)? Soooo been there. Somehow, the idea that a woman in armor may not be there to fulfil your every sex fantasy often doesn't seem to penetrate. Pfft. Fun, lighthearted feminist humor without a heavy-handed message -- I give it four PMSing warriors out of five.
Finally got around to reading yuki_onna's "Apocrypha". I am such a sucker for anyone who can work Classical mythology over well. (Try, and either I will love you forever, or I will want to throw heavy things at your head. Ms. Valente's the former.) Her sibyls speak in resonant and sensual tones, and she doesn't club you over the head with "THIS IS MY DEEP AND LITERARY ALLUSION NOW" like many other authors do. The poems are often very sexual, and that may be a little much for the more reserved, but I think she's breathing appropriate life into her subject matter. (Leda and the Swan is not a nice tale.) I enjoyed her poetry more than the stream-of-consciousness prose inclusions; my brain absorbs smaller bites better. I wasn't so fond of the title piece, but I attribute that both to my favoritism towards poetry and my preference for the Classical over the Christian metaphor. Sometimes, though, she has perfect lines. (I laughed aloud at the "all post-coital philosophy is existential" one; it's so true.) Three and a half shrieking madwomen out of five.
I was a little disappointed by "True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier", mostly because I was expecting it to be something that it's not. The story "True Names" itself was an interesting landmark of speculative fiction, and the direct precursor to much of the way we think about cyberspace. I enjoyed the story. I did not enjoy the preceding 230 pages of essays about the story. Perhaps I would have if I'd been new to the field, but it was exactly like reading a bunch of old cypherpunks archives. I've heard all these arguments already. Also, I found it really irritating that all the "OMG this story is so great" essays came before the actual story. Bah. I skipped them all, went straight to the story, and read them afterwards. If you're going to present critical commentary, it helps a lot for people to have read what you're talking about first; I have no idea why they formatted it differently. Also, the "and then there's going to be this Singularity, and, like, we're all going to be super-evolved ascendent cyborgs the likes of which mankind cannot imagine!" techno-apocalyptic stuff really gets on my nerves. Same old Revelations, wrapped up in new tinfoil hats. At least admit that it's religion and not science. Or, y'know, guessing. Four red witches out of five for "True Names" itself, a crotchety two digital apocalypses out of five for the cyberspace frontier.