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This segment was really popular when I did it last year. Enough that I did it twice. While I hate writing directionless hodge podge columns the readers will demand otherwise. Plus there are a lot of books in my boxes that don't connect to each other in any way shape or form. So this is as good an excuse to read them as any.
Last year I gave my Aunt a copy of Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation for a late birthday present. It had been, by the way, a book recommended to me during the very first "Highly Recommend" columns. It was a book I ended up loving which is why I have given it as a gift several times. My aunt said: I heard her reading part of a new book about Hawaii on NPR. You should read it. She didn't know it but I already had the book. It was just sitting in my box.
So now, without further adieu here it is . . .
- Unfamiliar Fishes By Sarah Vowell (Book of the Month):
As always - Vowell manages to tell history in a way that is addictive and entertaining. A lot of history books just seem to want you to learn things that doesn't seem to have any real importance. Vowell explains not only why things happened- but how those events still resonate today. Her choice of Hawaii at first seems odd. Only it allows Vowell to tell the types of stories she does best- those which tell us how great America can be but just how awful a country it has been. It continues the idea she explored in Wordy Shipmates that the Puritans founders of this country wanted religious freedom- at least for themselves- but were somewhat lax in applying said freedom to other people. This explains the rich importance of Hawaiian history from independent to nation being mildly influenced by American missionaries all the way up to annexation and its eventual statehood. There are a few nods to how the complicated history of Hawaii may have influenced modern politics- through our current commander in chief. There is even a brief look at the movement of modern locals who don't believe Hawaii is legally a state. Again, Sarah Vowell wouldn't be writing in her own voice if she didn't write these history books with a sprinkling of wit and sarcasm. There are some portions that are both drab and depressing but simultaneously hysterical. It makes you want to reread the portion a second time but when you do you do don't laugh and feel dirty for having done so.
Then a friend of mine from my old days in the fan fiction recommended a true classic of the silver ago of Fantasy- the 1970s. The first volume in the amazing epic- The Myth Adventures. So here we go!
- Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin:
The first book in this series is an amusing and charming tale of murder and magic starring a clumsy apprentice wizard named Skeeve and his new mentor Aahz, a member of the demonic race called Pervects. It rambles its way adequately through the little scenarios that every fantasy book and Dungeons and Dragons game goes through and approaches them with tongue firmly in cheek. All the greats fantasy writers get a well deserved riff: Tolkien, Howard , Leiber, and even old classics like The 1001 Arabian Knights Tales and Cervantes's masterpiece Don Quixote. While the book is quite funny it never quite approaches hilarious. It's light and breezy. It's fun without being about any social issues like most other humorous fantasy out there. (IE: most of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.) It's a quick gentle fairly good pager turner. The ending is a bit anticlimactic but when one of the main protagonists is a con man- and the reader is at least partially in on con - it's not quite as aggravating as it could have been.
And now -- this is a hard choice. Maybe the hardest choice I've made to read in awhile. I kind of feel like I had to do this next book even though I didn't want to. Y'see - many years ago I fell in love with someone who was probably the best friend I ever had. I was transformed just by knowing her. I went in a young, cheerful, energetic person with a curious nature and a love for life. I came out of it feeling old, dour, apathetic, still curious but with a certain degree of disdain for humanity but loving it all the same. I don't believe in fate but somehow that feels right to me. This is who I should be. I'm finally at peace with myself - and whatever else I may feel when I think of her - pain, anger, love, hate, remorse, self-loathing, ambivalence - there is also certain degree of gratitude. Now - now- look - look what I did there. I'm-I'm going to just start this review before I begin to sound like Woody Allen. Anyway- she gave me this book many years ago and I thought with some distance - I might be able to figure stuff out.
- Train Man by Hitori Nakano:
This work of quasi-fiction is about a geeky otaku who saves a group of women from being groped on the train by a drunk. He then receives a teacups from one of the women. Through the help of the message board he frequents- he receives advice on how to act, what to, how to dress and eventually gets the girl. That's it. That's the whole story. To make matters worse- it is a mostly true story and they simply translated real message board posts. It felt like I reading someone's overly wordy Livejournal - because- well that's basically what this book was. I know there is irony in complaining about this- but at least my blog occasionally posted other stuff. Anyway the biggest annoyance is the inclusion of the repetitive ASCII graphics. They are a pain in the ass to look at onscreen and they are a bigger pain in the ass to read in a book. The last 40 pages are the longest goodbye/death scene I've ever read that includes Shakespeare. It's not that the book was bad. It held my interest well enough. I even enjoyed and empathized with Train Man in some portions of the book. I just don't think an internet social improvement message board is capable of reaching the level of true literature.
It's still better than Star Trek: Treaty's Law. Or are next entry for that matter . . .
Last year I reviewed the second of Roger Zelazny's Amber books. It was one of those books where I wished I allowed myself the luxury of being as mean as my previous review column "Did I Get What I Paid For?" used to be. Yet people keep recommending that I stick with it. Thus - I figured I'll give the series one more shot.
- The Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny:
I have no trouble with multi-book fantasy epics with a dozen ongoing plots. What I have a problem with is multi-book fantasy epics where each book does not complete at least one story. Hero finds problems, hero deals with at least some problems, hero prepares for the next major obstacle. So far- only the second Amber book has really done that. It is preferable to have some reason to care about the characters. At three books in, I don't feel I know these characters anymore than I did when I started. The one character I cared about in the beginning- Corwin- has gone from somewhat likeable to completely unlikable. Though in this book neither he- or any of the other Amberites- had any personality whatsoever which is an even bigger problem. The previous two books at least had battles and internal squabbles. This book is 90% infodump. It was't even interesting infodump. It was the type of thing where the author says "You know those carefully crafted rules I've set up for the last 400 pages? I lied." The unreliable narrator works so much better when the reader is at least given a hint of what is really going on. While it is well written all the flowery language in the multiverse can't hold a story that has long since lacked character and plot.
And now for a little murder and mayhem . . .
- The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
This is probably the best post resurrection Sherlock Holmes story ever written. Aside from causing a minor continuity in this flashback tale in order to tie in Professor Moriarty, the first half of this book is a rock solid Holmes mystery. However once it leaves Watson's personal narrative and shifts to an American setting things tend to go a little of track. The actual mystery is solved by the end of the first act. Only you don't know why the solution works. That story seems a lot less interesting- mostly because the reader a lot less invested that story. We know who lives and who dies before hand. It lacks suspense. We are much less invested in McMordo/Evans/Douglas than we are in Holmes and Watson. That type of investment can do a lot to keep a reader interested in an uneven story. Any time in Holmes story where Doyle has to move the action away from either of his lead characters the story suffers. They are the ones, after all, who carry the narrative momentum. It wasn't overly long or bad per se- it just isn't of the quality of Doyle's early Holmes work. Then again by this point Doyle had long since admitted to being bored with Sherlock Holmes but couldn't make a profit on anything else.
And because I had some time to kill:
- Myth Conceptions by Robert Asprin:
Aahz and Skeeve are back. Only through a series of blunders and missteps, Aahz convinces Skeeve to get a job as a court magician. The catch is Aahz did not know the kingdom was dealing with a serious military threat. The general wants to discredit magic so he sends Skeeve and Aahz to deal with the problem on their own. Though luckily, they find their way back to Deva- another dimension they visited in Another Fine Myth- and recruit a rag tag bunch of misfits. Thus, Skeeve and Aahz are in the army now. Which begs the question: War- was is it good for? Making people laugh. That's right. The tactics they use and the age it was written make this a pretty amusing riff on The Vietnam War. Asprin gets slightly more political and a lot more humorous in this sequel. There is nice interplay between Skeeve and Aahz is more complicated in this book. In public and around the troops it must appear that Skeeve is in charge- when Aahz is by far the more experienced and intelligent. (Or so we think.) The ending is once again a bit anticlimatic but it makes sense. They aren't fighters, they are schemers and con men.
Next month: Seeking Out New Life and You Know the Drill . . .
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