28th July, 2009 by Marcelo - 4 Comments
For the Love & Books series on Stacked, Christina isn’t the only one with that lovin’ feeling (after all, I’m getting married in five days!). So to kick off this week of reading about love, I’d like to present an underrated book by one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami – South of the Border, West of the Sun.
The basic plot: Hajime was a young boy when he met Shimamoto, a girl with a limp who became his best friend. After years of sharing each other’s deepest secrets, they’re separated by going to different high schools, and before you know it Hajime is married with two kids and he owns a successful chain of jazz bars. It’s been 25 years since they last saw each other when Shimamoto walks into one of his bars, and her entrance in his life leads to a whole host of “what-ifs” that plague Hajime and threaten his marriage and his financial success (his wife’s father is the primary investor in his bars).
What I find fascinating about this book is the way Murakami makes Shimamoto a ghost from the past, even when she’s standing right in front of Hajime. She doesn’t talk about where she’s been or what she’s been up to. She wears expensive clothes and disappears for weeks on end, appearing at erratic intervals with no rhyme or reason. She pleads to Hajime to never think about where she might be going or what she has to do when she’s not with him. It’s the kind of surreal conceit that Murakami does so well, blending the detail-oriented Western world with the mystical promise of the ghosts of Japan. It’s no coincidence that Hajime’s success in his work and life is primarily a Western one – he runs two clubs that feature American jazz music, he lives a financially comfortable lifestyle more in line with what Westerners consider successful (lots of money, a nice wife, two kids, franchising opportunities, all his affairs in order). Shimamoto offers him not only a sense of nostalgia combined with newness, but also an escape from the ontological cage that Hajime’s lifestyle has built around him.
But that newness is unattainable. In the same way that Hajime is unable to know the details and particulars of Shimamoto’s life, he is also unable to fully connect with her. Their fates were sealed when they parted ways in high school. Now there’s too much baggage, too much that is unknowable, and too much time has passed for them to go back and make different choices about their lives. The connection that Hajime might have had with Shimamoto is close and palpable but ultimately unknowable. Murakami’s surreal dismissal of Shimamoto’s details is his way of making this point clear with subtlety and grace and he succeeds magnificently.
There is one other subplot that’s worth talking about. Between his friendship with Shimamoto and marrying his wife, Hajime had a girlfriend in college named Izumi, whom he hurt very badly by having a crazy affair with her hyper-sexual cousin. This act of betrayal frames the main story and outlines the very real consequences of what going back on the choices you make really means. Throughout the novel we hear about Izumi’s life through secondhand sources, friends of friends, until Murakami pays off this part of the story in a final arresting image that connects the unknowability of what might have been with the cosmic wounds that linger when you try to make those phantom connections real.
Like After Dark, this is another novel that Murakami fans don’t pay much attention to, which is a shame because it’s one of his most emotionally passionate books. Lesser authors have made affairs a type of wish fulfillment where sexy and alluring partners can help us break out of our emotionally dry and boring lives. Murakami avoids this by never flinching from the consequences of Hajime’s attempts to know the unknowable. Even though Hajime couldn’t have known that Shimamoto would come back and talk to him again, never once does Murakami excuse him from his commitment not only to his wife and kids but to the fabric of the universe that tells us that we go through this life once and we have to accept the consequences of our actions. Hajime’s attempts to connect with Shimamoto (and his decision to cheat on Izumi) are attempts to break that fabric and undo the turns of his life, and that has cosmic consequences all the way to the final heartbreaking line of this wonderful novel.
Like I said earlier in the post, I’m getting married in five days to a woman whom I love very much. Planning this wedding, preparing myself for the commitment I’m about to make, it’s made me reflective about the choices I’ve made that have brought me here. I imagine if I had made different choices I wouldn’t be marrying this amazing woman. There are a million different Marcelos that could be existing right now but those variations are truly unknowable, and trying to know them is futile and dangerous. South of the Border, West of the Sun is a book that understands that concept inherently. It’s a wise and thoughtful book about love’s double-edged sword.
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9th July, 2009 by Christina - 1 Comment
I find it strange that Marcelo and I have the same copy of Dune by Frank Herbert. My father had recommended I read the book a few times and finally I came around to the idea at the same time Marcelo decided to re-read the book.
Since he already outlined the plot in his review, I won’t go into that. Instead, I’ll talk a bit about what it’s like being a first time reader of the book and some of my thoughts on the subject matter.
First off, I really really liked this book. It does take awhile to get into, and I can see why Marcelo put it down without much progress during his first attempt. As a reader, you are thrown into a culture and time with a different language as though you have some knowledge of what’s going on. The glossary at the end uses the same language to define terms, so it’s not much help.
Maybe this is where reading Beowulf first comes in handy. The introduction to Beowulf talks about loops–seeming tangents that connect back to the main story. Keeping that idea in mind, I was able to get through some of the more difficult sections of Dune because whatever was vague now was sure to be fleshed out and explained later. It’s a strange dichotomy since you are forced to read slowly while wanting to hurry up and see what happens next. Both Marcelo and my father mentioned getting more out of the book during a second reading, and I can understand why based on my grasp of this future time/world by the end of the novel.
Overall, I found the themes and ideas expressed in the book to be fascinating and still applicable to our world four decades later (ecology, religion, politics). There’s also the question of whether or not we submit to fate, create our own destiny, and whether or not we can ever know which it is.
Each chapter starts with a quotation–again something I found quite interesting, not for their content or relationship to the following pages, but for their relationship to the concept of linear time and past/present/future existing within the same moment. You are reading a book NOW about a story in the FUTURE as though it were the PAST. Princess Irulan is mentioned as being of the literary sort at the end of the book with the hope she will be content with an existence in which that is all she has. Each quotation is from what she has written and documented in the future beyond the book.
I have Dune Messiah and Children of Dune on my shelf waiting to be read, but I’m a bit hesitant. Not because I’ve heard mixed reviews about their quality, but because I’m quite content with the story as is in the first book and think it works well as a self-contained story. I know there are more adventures and trials for Paul, but I’m satisfied with the conclusion; there are no loose ends to be tied up or further explained. I’ll get around to reading them at some point but most likely will stop with them and not read the other pre and sequels.
I’ve also requested the 1984 David Lynch version of the movie. I’m skeptical as the images I’ve seen deviate from how I picture the characters–Paul, played by Kyle Maclaughlin is too old for the child with a man’s brain, a character study I found quite interesting as the book progressed, and events or concepts that were important to the overall story are dropped for a condensed cinematic storytelling.
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3rd July, 2009 by Marcelo - 3 Comments
This week will mark 2009’s halfway point. Already? It seems like only yesterday that 2009 was just beginning, but time flies when you have a lot of books to read. So here are the five books that I’ve read so far this year that have really stuck with me. They weren’t published this year, I just happened to stumble on them in 2009. I’m presenting these in a countdown from 5th best to 1st best.
5. It’s Superman! by Tom De Haven- A rip-roaring Depression-era origin story for the Man of Steel, the book takes the legend of Superman and does something the comics haven’t been able to do in years: make it real. Clark Kent is a dust bowl farm boywho yearns for social justice, Lois Lane is a sexy firecracker of a dame with a penchant for getting into trouble, and Lex Luthorisis a New York City alderman with more nefarious plans and a back story that finally explains what makes him tick.
The result is a supremely well-written book that will have you humming the theme from the Superman movie while you admire the 30’s detail that grounds the story and makes it real and believable. And through it all you never lose sight of the idea that these are real human beings, and that’s a first for the Man of Steel. My only criticism is that De Haven spends too long building the origin story and not enough time with Superman actually being Superman. Indeed, the final chapter has a small summary of all the times Supes and Lois have met since his debut, and I wanted to read about those adventures. But that doesn’t take away much from how great this book is. They should make a period film out of this story.
4. Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson – Steven Johnson is one of the most fascinating writers working today. Each book he writes tackles some new corner of knowledge, from emergent systems to neuroscience to a mid-19th century cholera outbreak that changed the world, and Johnson always manages to relate the material to your everyday life. Everything Bad is Good For You is a story about the here and now, about how the naysayers who think our pop culture-addicted children are getting dumber and dumber is just plain wrong.
Using an arsenal of statistics, test scores, anecdotal evidence, and reasoned analysis, Johnson argues the exact opposite–that the video games, Internet links, TV shows, and popular music that we are exposing our kids to are making them smarter, more agile, more capable of solving certain types of problems than we have ever been. It’s a story of techno-triumphalism that helps you appreciate this brave new world we’re in right now. It’s one of those books I constantly refer to when talking to people about tech issues.
3. Token by Alisa Kwitney & Joëlle Jones – In a previous 5 Books post I mentioned the DC Minx line of comics aimed at teenage girls. DC has since announced the cancellation of the Minx line, but you can still pick up the books that are out there (and DC has one or two more in the pipeline they intend to publish). One of the best of the Minx books is Token.
Token is a beautiful coming of age story about a girl’s first boyfriend during a too-short summer in Miami Beach. All at once Shira Spektor’s world is thrown upside downby her dad’s impending marriage to her secretary Linda, and it doesn’t help when a young Spanish boy named Rafael wanders into her world. The writing is honest and real withan ending that is completely earned, and the artwork matches the script with subtlety and grace, perfecting quiet beautiful moments like a casual shrug, a shiver, a sideways glance. Many times in comic books art is just cool and stylish, but this book features art that gives ideas about character and mood. This is one of the finer graphic novels I’ve read.
2. Syrup by Maxx Barry – Let me start by pointing out the obvious to anyone who has already read Syrup: it’s got a lot of problems. The final third of the book is completely unrealistic and would never go down the way it does. The writing is hyper-self-aware to the point of parody, and the story is filled with unlikable characters who exist in a sort of quasi wish fulfillment for Barry, himself a survivor of the corporate marketing culture he’s skewering.
But Syrup somehow, against all odds, works. Not only does it work, it works really well. The words fly off the page and hit you in the face with their audacity and electricity. There are so many purely laugh out loud moments, so many wonderful plot twists and punchlines, and despite your better intentions you end up rooting desperately for the main characters to succeed. I had a shit-eating grin on my face the entire time I was reading Syrup, noting passages I wanted to read aloud to my fiancee because they were so funny and so audacious. This may not have been the best book I read this year, but I listed it so high because it was unquestionably one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever had.
1. Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland – On a completely different tack, this book is the exact opposite of Syrup–it’s a quietly horrific story of a school shooting and its aftermath in the lives of several key participants. The book is told from four different points of view, each one taking a long single turn to reveal their part of the story. There’s Cheryl, the dead girl everyone turned into a martyr who had a secret marriage to her high school boyfriend, speaking to us from beyond the grave. There’s Jason, her husband, who has tried over the years following the shooting to find some semblance of normalcy in a world where no one could possibly know the truth about what really happened. There’s also a section written by Heather, Jason’s long-suffering girlfriend, about her attempts to live up to Cheryl’s legacy and to heal the wounds Jason suffered so long ago. And finally there’s Reg, Jason’s domineering and psychotic father, who finds himself at the end of his life alone, apologetic, and surprisingly human. Through these four stories we get a portrait of a family lost in a world where God has abandoned them and people are incapable of connecting on a meaningful level.
The result is a story of tremendous humanity and poetry, a story about the difference in perspective between so many disparate people. One image in the book reaches out to me over and over again. In the first few pages Cheryl talks how God doesn’t see night and day because God is the sun and the sun shines indiscriminately on the Earth. It’s our perception of that light that creates night and day. This book is the story of that difference in perception. Every character in the book has a side to them no one else knows or can truly understand. And the ending is a tour de force explosion of meaning and poetry that caps off this beautiful, tragic, sublime book.
Honorable mentions go to Rudy Rucker’s fabulous book of fourth dimensional weirdness Spaceland, Michael Chabon’s nostalgic adventure Summerland, and Judith Guest’s classic Ordinary People, which is one of my all-time favorites but I didn’t want to stack the list with books I frequently re-read because I love them so much.
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23rd June, 2009 by Marcelo - 5 Comments
When I was 12 or so and totally into Star Trek and Asimov and being exceptionally nerdy, my stepfather Russell placed a copy of Frank Herbert’s Dune in my hands. It was a thick mass-market paperback with exceptionally small type, and even with the type it rounded out at just over 500 pages–the kind of book you flip through with your fingers and think, “Man, there is no way I’m gonna get through all this.” And I didn’t–I made it to around 100 pages before I gave up and put the book on my shelf. It was just too dense, too difficult, with too many references to a world I didn’t understand. Even the glossary at the end of the book didn’t help.
I finally made it through Dune in high school after watching the David Lynch movie and getting a basic understanding of the plot beforehand. I remember enjoying it, putting it down, moving on. By the time I was a junior in high school I had completely abandoned science fiction, and for the next decade I didn’t give any thought to this random book I read once.
But books have a way of calling to you from faraway places. The worlds they build in your mind stick there, grow, develop a history and reverence. It finally came to a head this year when for some inexplicable reason I felt the urge to revisit Dune. I picked up a mass market paperback identical to the one I used to have, with creaks in the spine and weathered yellow pages. I started reading. (more…)
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16th June, 2009 by Marcelo - 4 Comments
I’ve been a big fan of Max Barry since I read his book Jennifer Government, a wickedly funny and energetic sci-fi satire of capitalism gone awry. I just started reading his first novel Syrup last night and I love it already. He has an incredibly wicked sense of humor and a gift for language that’s poorly imitated by lesser authors. His words fly off the page like electric guitar solos in a punk rock blitzkrieg.
For his latest endeavor Max has done something really special. He’s publishing his book Machine Man online as he writes it–one page per day. A “page” can be as short as a paragraph or longer than three or four typical novel pages. That page that he publishes every day (and Barry swears that he’s publishing them as he writes them and he doesn’t know where the story is going to end up) gets sent out to email addresses and mobile devices all over the world. People can also check the feed on Barry’s website.
Novelists putting their work online for all to see isn’t anything new, nor is the idea of serializing books over a period of time. But what’s fascinating about Machine Man is the way the distribution system is affecting the way Barry writes it. In an interview he admitted that he tried writing the book the traditional way but got bored –this new format has made the story come alive. It’s allowed Barry to play with structure by limiting certain pages to a few sentences while dragging others out for as long as he likes. This lets him control the pacing of the book instead of the arbitrary format of a novel with chapters. I also think that Barry’s frenetic writing style is well-suited to this format. His books are fast and smart, and reading one in this way makes sense for him in a way it wouldn’t for someone like Neal Stephenson.
In a broader sense this is great because it’s a new method of looking at the printed word that lowers barriers for everyone. While Barry is somewhat well-known and already has publishing deals, a stunt like this brings readers in, allows them to participate in the story (each page is open for comments by the readers, who offer real-time criticism and discussion) and become invested in a writer’s work. In a publishing landscape where authors are required more and more to cultivate relationships with their readers and nurture fan communities to survive, Barry seems to have found a solution that solves that need while trying out something innovative and fun for his own writing process.
And the book is just plain good. It’s really fun and outlandish and I can’t wait to see what happens in it.
Machine Man is free through the first 40-odd pages, then it costs $6.95 to subscribe to a feed. That’s a pretty decent price point for a novel, especially one delivered in real time to you. It’ll eventually be published as a book, but really half the fun is in the online aspect. You can catch up to the real time feed by reading everything in a row up to now or start on page 1 and go at your own pace. It’s as much of a time commitment as reading a single email a day. Plus, Christina and I are both doing it–how much more peer pressure could you need? Check it out.
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11th May, 2009 by Christina - 2 Comments
What a busy whirl-wind weekend this was! Most of what I did all ties back into what I’ve been reading, so I’ll give you a little run-down and will go into a little more depth over the course of the week.
Coming up in a few weeks is the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. I marched for the first time last year with the Brooklyn Bombshells. My little seersucker sailor outfit was a hit with the MC and I decided to go all out this year with full on sparkle. Cindy took me out fabric shopping on Saturday and will be helping me to sew my creation together. Finally a chance to read the McCall’s Sewing Guide that’s been tucked away in a closet for a few years; of course, I am pretty sure there is no chapter on how to get your fins attached properly! I’ve also requested a biography on Hollywood’s own mermaid, Esther Williams, The Million Dollar Mermaid.
On my way home I managed to make it into the station just as the dreaded G Train pulled up to the platform. A rare occurrence indeed! Last time I attempted to make a trip up to Word Booksellers, I spent two hours combined riding and waiting for trains. More about Word in a minute.
Finally, yesterday I made it to a performance of the M. Stuart Dance Theater. I’ve known the company’s founder for a few years now and have been following the company’s growth. They are an amazing set of dancers and Mark’s mission for the company is to create stories out of movement–something he is very talented at.
Back to Word.
For the most part, my book shopping has been at the big warehouse store, Barnes & Noble. I don’t recall there being any indie booksellers in Burlington, VT back in the 1990s–at least none that I was aware of. Seeing as there was not much in the area to interest teenagers, my friends and I would often head over to B&N to camp out in the horoscope aisle with our Starbucks. While at college, there was one little bookseller and the shelves were filled mostly with religious propaganda (and Terry Pratchett!), so most of my shopping was done while visiting my family or in the campus bookshop. Once in Manhattan, I returned to B&N and the library, as both were a quick jaunt away from my apartment.
So, it was immensely refreshing to enter a bookstore where the atmosphere wasn’t about coffee, consumerism, Christianity, or team spirit. In fact, Word oozed modest intelligence. Thin shelves are arranged to let in the light, and the staff chats casually with customers telling them the good and bad of book recommendations and swapping thoughts. Stephanie* from Bookavore was behind the counter and remembered me by my many emails reserving books and then not making it in (see aforementioned G Train comment).
I was there to pick up, specifically, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and While in Darkness There is Light (written by my high school creative writing and journalism teacher, Louella Bryant). It’s almost overwhelming, but so nice, to be in a bookstore where the staff is so knowledgeable. Stephanie and I chatted about Charlaine Harris‘ Southern Vampire Mysteries, bemoaned the Twilight series, and she pointed out The Forest of Teeth and Hands as a better YA vampire recommendation.
Word isn’t exactly convenient to my apartment, but I do plan on stopping by again, but not until I make a trip to Community Bookstore since they are a 15-minute walk ,which is much more preferable than that train trip. However, I like the sunny coziness of Word and the chatty bibliophile banter that goes on. Next time I’ll schedule in a little more lounge time to peruse the shelves and see what interesting recommendations can be found among the stacks.
* I was totally planning on introducing myself to Stephanie by saying, “Hi, I’m Stacked.” Because I think it’s rather funny. But my feet were in the first flip-flop wearing pain of the year and I forgot. Luckily when my name wasn’t in the system for having books on hold, she was all, “oh, you’re Stacked, right?” and had put the books aside for me separately. So, yea, still funny.
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8th May, 2009 by Christina - 3 Comments
My mother, the one who helps run the Travis Roy Foundation’s Wiffle Ball Tournament, used to coordinate a walk-a-thon for mental illness. Through various fundraising, she happened to become owner of a copy of The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian, a local author. Both my parents read the book, and my mother was a bit surprised when my dad recommended it to me. Her description: creepy. In fact, when I checked it out of the library for the Read-a-Thon, she recommended only reading it during the day.
Before I had a chance to get very far, a good friend of mine, who also grew up in the area where the story takes place, read the book and said she wouldn’t describe the book as creepy. So this left me to finish the book with a few spoilers under my belt (thanks, Dad) and determine on my own the creepy factor.
Now, the book is one that is easily spoiled, as I experienced, so I’m going to try my best to tell you how much I liked The Double Bindwithout giving anything away. This is the type of thriller/mystery book that warrants two readings, one without preconceived ideas of what happens and one where you can analyze the truth behind everything that happens as the story progresses. Over the weekend when I finished the book, Mom and I had a little time to discuss the plot and outcome. We both decided “creepy” wasn’t the correct word to use, but it was not incorrect. The book is not creepy in a “things that go bump in the night” sort of way. Its creepy factor is more in line with “disturbing” in it’s treatment of mental illness and the reflection of what you just read. The approach to mental illness is vast–although the book explores one main avenue, there are other areas in which people’s perceptions and actions can be analyzed in relation to what is normal and rational behavior.
There is also a tie-in to The Great Gatsby and Bohjalian’s weaving of Fitzgerald’s story and his own together is flawless. There are numerous subtle hints and suggestions utilized from Tom, Daisy, and Jay’s roaring-twenties “adventures” that suggest which direction current events will take. The dialogue, a huge area of contention for me, is not great, but it is not so weak that I can’t forgive it and in the act of reflection accept it.
On a personal level, I really appreciated Bohjalian’s inclusion of Burlington, VT landmarks where the story predominately takes place. Various locations are never named, but I’m able to picture each restaurant and street that the action takes place on. My favorite reference was a smart little play on words regarding BEDS, the local homeless shelter. This is the one instance of a location/organization actually being named in a brief exchange where a character mistakenly refers to the organization as COTS, its real name. I think anyone reading a book that takes place somewhere they have lived enjoys the process of recognizing old haunts and landmarks that were a part of their life.
That’s about all I can say without destroying the experience of discovery while reading the book for the first time. There is a beauty to the writing that unfolds into one story and can be re-read with a completely different mindset to analyzing comments and references, some of which are so subtle as to be almost insider information for the initiated.
So you’ll just have to go pick up a copy on your own.
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1st May, 2009 by Marcelo - 3 Comments
Marcelo is back with another list of five books, and it was a delight to read. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!
.c
I was an avid reader as a kid. And as a daycare worker and camp counselor, I’ve seen firsthand how the right book at the right time can change a kid’s life. I’ve seen books transform teenagers overnight, turning them into passionate advocates and thinkers because a book moved them. When I first started reading Stacked, the first book that came to my mind that Christina had to read was such a book, Cory Doctorow’s awesome Little Brother. I could conceive of someone reading LB and deciding to become an info-activist or a hacker–a Big Life Decision spurred by a book they loved. Books like that are rare, and I thought in honor of Little Brother I’d present five more books worth putting into a kid’s hands. These range from books for younger kids to books for teenagers, but they’re all wonderful and valuable.
Danny The Champion of the Worldby Roald Dahl – Most people who recommend Dahl recommend Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Matilda or one of my all-time favorites, The Witches. This book has flown under the radar for decades, probably because it’s the only children’s book Dahl wrote that doesn’t contain any magical elements. It’s a simple slice-of-life story about a boy and his father living in a caravan in the English countryside and the adventure they go through when the boy discovers his father’s deep dark secret.
What’s wonderful about this book is the attention to detail Dahl gives the community around the boy and his father, the autobiographical elements taken straight from his own childhood. Dahl clearly has a great deal of fondness for his characters and the story. Even though there’s nothing overtly magical or supernatural in the story, Dahl still fills it with the magic of everyday life. There’s a quiet stillness in it, an elegance that doesn’t really exist in Dahl’s other works for kids. It’s truly a gem and worth any kid’s valuable time.
A Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine L’Engle – This is not an obscure book. It is beloved and appreciated by so many people. But I put it on this list because I remember so clearly how my 4th grade brain was completely stretched by this curious novel about hyperdimensional travel, and how even after having it explained to me over and over again, I couldn’t quite bend my mind around the concept of the Tesseract. The beauty of this book is that even if you never quite get there, you get somewhere.
At first you think it’s going to be a fun book about three bumbling witches and the adventures they take the kids on. But before you know it, the kids are thinking about hyperdimensional reality and flying across the universe to face off against an ominous evil. In a literary world filled with cheap surface-level fantasy franchises like Harry Potter, it’s nice to see a book that challenges and expands consciousness rather than cocooning it in an easily accessible world. Books like HP are safe. This one isn’t. In fact, it’s usually the first book a young reader ever encounters that truly tests them. And that test has so much value. I love seeing the look on a young reader’s face when they read this book, as their brains come to grips with what they’re being asked to understand. They’re never quite the same afterwards.
Frek and the Elixirby Rudy Rucker – Frek is a young boy on an Earth far removed from our own –a biotech company called NuBioCom has released a virus that prevents reproduction, so now only NuBioCom-approved genetically modified species roam the earth–generic dogs that are all the same, anyfruit trees and grobread plants that feed the world, even house-trees with wifi circuits genetically built into their walls. Life is pleasant and unremarkable, and every day looks and feels exactly like the last one. That all changes when a small alien appears in a cartoon Frek is watching, bearing a message from his long-lost father. Before he can even stop to rest, Frek is on the run from the authorities, taking flight in a miraculous spaceship powered by strange alien technology, and visiting planes of existence he never could have imagined.
This is a fun science fiction yarn that combines thrilling action and adventure with thought-provoking science. Kids will love the story of a young boy who may be Earth’s only hope to restore the genome, but they will also feel their minds bend over backwards to conceptualize dozens of typical wacky Ruckerisms, from a journey into the hyperspatial Planck brane to the natural habitat of an alien race that lives inside stars. They’ll also learn about concepts like biotech and monoculture and compare the world Frek lives in with the world we live in today–and it’s not that far off. This is the perfect book to give to the slightly nerdy science fiction fan who’s looking for something different but completely challenging. It would also make a great Pixar movie.
The Plain Janes/Janes in Loveby Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg – I’m not a comic book fan at all, but I love the line of short black and white graphic novels put out by a small division at DC Comics called Minx. Aimed at a teenage girl audience, the books are short, small, cheap, and most importantly, very smart. The Plain Janesis a great book to start checking out this line. Jane’s parents move her out of the big city to the suburbs after a minor terrorist attack freaks them out. In a new school with new questions about herself and her world, Jane finds a tribe of friends from all different corners and together they attempt to change their community through public “art attacks” in their tight-ass neighborhood. Labeled as terrorists and vandals, the Janes continue to strive to change the world by changing the community around them.
This book and its sequel, Janes in Love, are the perfect books to hand to a teenage girl who is still finding herself. They celebrate nonconformity and self-confidence and are empowering and sweet. The characters are well-developed and real, and the books don’t pander to what most publishers of books think the teenage girl crowd wants–stories of rich brats and designer jeans and who’s going out with whom. I wouldn’t be surprised if this book inspires some kid to go do the same thing in their town. The entire Minx line is filled with other great books that feature the same qualities, all drawn by different artists in different styles, featuring unique and quirky characters and plots. If you like these two books, you have a whole group of similar books to check out afterwards.
Cuntby Inga Muscio – Give this book to your free-thinking daughter during their senior year in high school. It’s a controversial feminist manifesto that challenges female readers to own their feminity and reclaim words like “cunt” for themselves. Muscio combines this call to arms with her own autobiographical journey of discovery, sharing extremely personal details about her own life (including a self-induced miscarriage). She also offers her readers alternative ways to own their femininity without having to depend on male-created institutions for their health.
This is the perfect book to give to the young woman in high school who’s looking for a way to empower herself and her gender. It will challenge sacred beliefs, reaffirm long-held truths, and ultimately introduce whomever you give it to to a whole new world of thinking. Most importantly, it’s the kind of book that creates women who aren’t afraid of being self-aware and articulate and beautiful in a way that they define and they own. In today’s high school space where teenage girls are hypersexualized, treated like marketing pawns, and expected to conform to a world that men have defined for them, this book breaks through all that to find and celebrate real women everywhere.
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20th March, 2009 by Christina - 8 Comments
HELP!
I’ve got some stuff going on that requires a little help from all of you in finding worthy books.
First off, Mermaid Parade is two and a half months away. I’ve already got my costume picked out and have recruited those with sewing ability to help me make it. What I don’t have is a book about mermaids. Maybe a history or a fun YA novel? Suggestions?
Secondly, I’ll be growing my own indoor garden and plan on growing from seed. I’ve grown some stuff from transfers before and am looking for How-To books on indoor herb gardens (I’ll be growing mint, basil, lavender, thyme, and maybe rosemary) or vegetable gardens (definitely growing tomatoes and possibly peppers).
If you can recommend a book where a mermaid grows an indoor garden–you win*!
*Winner(s) shall receive my undying affection.
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11th March, 2009 by Christina - 4 Comments
I know, I know – three days in a row where I talk about comics. I’m sorry.
The other day Ryan Twittered this link from Geekanerd about a new comic book shop opening in Brooklyn. One that happens to be mere steps away from my home! Well, not so mere, but definitely a short walk. A few weeks ago he had suggested I visit Midtown Comics as my first venture into a comic book shop and there happened to be a location a few blocks from the office
However, after being completely overwhelmed by the three shelves of comics and graphic novels in Barnes & Noble, the idea of going into Midtown Comics seemed like a terrible idea. I had now clue where to begin! It didn’t help that Ryan also sent me a link to the recent Wired article: The Secret Lives of Comic Store Employees;the photo that starts the article is Midtown Comics – FRIGHTENING! Asking for help in a place like that would be like going into the grocery store and asking an employee to recommend something for dinner – how are they supposed to be able to help me when I haven’t the foggiest idea what I like?
Ryan offered to go with me to Bergen Street Comics and it was sort of like having a tour guide. I met up with him and Heather last night and really liked the place; it wasn’t quite so intimidating although I was still rather clueless. Having the two of them there to make recommendations about what they like was really helpful.
Bergen Street Comics is cozy; smaller than I expected and warm in its dark blue walls, spaced out shelving, and even some comfy chairs and couch. It’s not cloyingly cluttered and the empty wall space between selves featured comic artwork. Being in the stort is like the comparisons on the SATs – Bergen Street Comics : Indy Book Seller :: Midtown Comics : Barnes & Noble. That is, if Barnes & Noble and a more knowledgeable staff.
A few people came in but it was a pretty light crowd and the two employees were chatting with folks and offering suggestions. Definitely will be going back once I get to a point of knowing what I like, although I get the feeling that this is a place I could walk in, admit to knowing nothing, and still get help in the form of great suggestions.
I don’t really know how to categorize most comics with my reading for the year. Watchmen
as a compilation was easily comparable to a regular book but single issues? How do you quantify those into a book equivalent? I do want to read more and walked out at the end out our trip with a long list of suggestions. Ryan basically just points to books and say’s “you should read this” and gives a brief synopsis. Heather is funnier “what’s the one I don’t like? You should let her borrow it.” Both said that they start reading with recommendations and from there find other works by writers or illustrators as they become more familiar with what they like. For the time being, I’ll be borrowing from the “Library of Ryan”. He mentioned that he’ll often lend people a few first issues from different series rather than a few from just one series. So here’s to getting a feel for what I like and adding even more things to read to my list.
Bergen Street Comics is located 470 Bergen Street (between Flatbush and Fifth Avenues).
Their website is under construction, but you can also follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
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