Book of Quotes, Number Four

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes)."
-- Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"

Because it may indeed be a gift to be simple, but I am not. Neither are you. Be large.

Who Watches Alan Moore?

Salon has an interesting interview with writer and wizard Alan Moore. I've only recently found out that there are people who had never heard of Watchmen before the movie. That's rather sad.

I Love the Smell of Star Trek in the Morning

I'm definitely getting me a bottle of Tiberius. Hey, if smelling like Captain Kirk worked for Captain Kirk, who am I to argue?

All I want is a piece of the action.

via: Violins and Starships

Riddle Game

Years ago I decided that I wanted to read the classic novels of modern fantasy. Being the kind of person who likes to organize with lists I thought I'd put together a list of the books that were most highly regarded in the genre. And being the kind of person who wastes a lot of time with pointless research, I put together a long list. Several actually. Not too long ago I found myself revisiting one of those old lists and realized that I had worked my way through quite a bit of it, but I still hadn't read The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip. It is the first book of a trilogy now collected in one volume called Riddle-Master.

Riddle-Master is an avowedly Tolkienian work. It starts with the standard map of the realm. It takes place in a vaguely medieval world of kings and farmers and wizards and such. The hero comes from a quiet, idyllic, rural place, set aside from the wider world of swords and sorcery. The tropes of western folktales abound, including the hero with a hidden destiny, magical objects, shape-changers, and of course lots of traveling on that map from page one.

I probably would have been pretty frustrated if I had read this when it first came out. Like Tolkien the three novels do not really stand on their own. They are really three distinct parts of one story. The first book ends in a cliffhanger. Had I not had the rest of the story in my hand I probably would not have continued. The Riddle-Master of Hed was a good read, but not all that special. It's in the second book things begin to really take off. In the first book we meet Morgon, a prince of the island of Hed. He's the eponymous riddle-master and the guy with the hidden destiny. As the ruler of Hed he possesses a magical awareness of his land called the land-rule. Each country in the realm has a ruler who has this connection to his territory. He is mystically aware of the land and all things living on it. As the story continues Morgon begins to discover other magical powers. He does not fully understand these things and neither does the reader. As we travel around the land we learn bits and pieces of the meaning behind things and the hidden motives of the various powers swirling around our hero. It takes a long time to unfold and in the process we develop a fuller picture of an interesting fantasy world and magical system.

McKillip weaves some magic of her own with this complex tale featuring memorable characters, drama, adventure, poetic descriptive passages, and a nice love story. I'd recommend it for fans of high fantasy only, but for those fans this is a certified must read.

Book of Quotes, Number Three

"It isn't often that someone comes along who is both a true friend and a good writer." -- Wilbur, of Charlotte, in Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.

I've always liked that one. True friends are rare. Good writers rarer still. Both in one package? Hang on to that.

Slam!

Sometimes a book review takes a few paragraphs to get going. You have to read a bit before you find out if the reviewer had some problems with the book or if there might have been a few things that the writer might have done differently. Then there's this review. Here's how it starts:

"In “labelling Churchill as ‘ape-like’ and claiming that Timothy McVeigh was driven by ‘primate’ instincts, the authors of Sex and War hope to prove that war is an evolutionary trait. Their thesis is mind-blowingly dumb."

Ouch.

Hey Kids, Comics!

I'm checking under the sofa cushions and raiding the piggy bank. I'm short by just about . . . um . . . almost half a million dollars. But I want this. Since I may not be able to raise the money in time, I put it on my wish list. Anyone feeling really generous? Hmmm?

Book of Quotes, Number Two

“Think and let think.” -- John Wesley

Wesley was speaking specifically about disputes among Christians, but the point is a valid one for all areas of dispute. Intellectual inquiry is that which makes men like unto angels. Intellectual intolerance is that which makes men like unto demons.

Have Fun Storming the Castle

After all these years I finally got around to watching The Princess Bride. I know, I know, what took me so long? Man, was this a great movie. You've probably seen it, so I don't need to tell you that. If you haven't seen it, then what are you waiting for? Only a dope would go a couple of decades without seeing such a terrific movie. It is really amazing how it works as a swashbuckling, romantic, fairytale, and at the same time manages to be a parody of a swashbuckling, romantic, fairytale. Now excuse me. I've got a BMT sandwich waiting.

Creepy Coraline

If at all possible, see Coraline in 3D. It is surely the best use the technology has been put to. The new process is great and Coraline is a terrific movie. Even if you don't get to see it in 3D in should be terrific. It is creepy, atmospheric, and wonderful to look at. Based on the fabulous book by Neil Gaiman, it is a version of the classic story of a mortal being tricked and trapped in fairyland. This is for anyone with a taste for grotesques and arabesques.

Hurry though. It will probably get bumped out of the 3D theaters when the Jonas Brothers movie comes out next week.

Protecting the Children

Who says that our congress isn't looking out for our best interests? Faced with the problem of unsafe toys they passed a law that now promises to keep children out of that most dangerous of places, the local library.
--via Folderol

Space, the Messy Frontier

Space, you've probably heard, is messier than a college dorm room. The Europeans, being a very tidy bunch, have announced that they're going to clean up around here (Around here? Orbit? Oh, I do amuse myself.). It occurred to me that they could use one of these.


Then it occurred to me that there aren't a lot of people who remember what this is.

Okay, that's a challenge. Are you geek enough? The first person to tell me who commands this ship wins our big prize, two hoots from a ding dong.

Book of Quotes, Number One

Not that this is the world's number one quote, just that it happens to be first in my book of quotes.

“The thoughtful man becomes a hermit in the thoroughfares of the marketplace.” – Henry David Thoreau

I think most people today are afraid of visiting the hermitage of their minds. We don't value uninterrupted contemplation. We distract ourselves with games and entertainment, we constantly chat, text, and twitter. There is much to discover in the terra incognita of our own minds, if we choose to explore them.

What Ho!

Life with Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an omnibus of three of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books; Right Ho, Jeeves, The Inimitable Jeeves, and Very Good, Jeeves! The first is a novel, the other two are collections of short stories told in chronological order and linked by some common characters and events. Which is a very boring way for me to start a review of Wodehouse. I'll try again. What ho! Here are some jolly good stories about our favorite upper class twit and his preternaturally efficient valet. If you don't already know Bertie Wooster and his man the amazing Jeeves then you are poorer for the lack, but richer for the potential.

I tend to think of these stories as taking place in a fantasy realm. Yes, it is clearly identified as being England of the 1920s and 30s, but it isn't really that time and place. Bertie's world is a nearly idyllic neverland where breakfast is always served in bed, tragedy is unknown, and no matter what silly mess he gets into, in the end he will always end up just as he began, just tickety-boo. I should warn you that Bertie's use of the language will get into your head and start messing with the old vocab. The plot of these things doesn't matter. It's always something silly, like Bertie's friend Bingo is in love and needs help obtaining his father's approval. Some sort of insane scheme is developed. Everything goes ridiculously wrong and Bertie ends up in a jam, then Jeeves solves all his problems with his customary brilliance and aplomb. Meanwhile you just sit back and laugh yourself silly.

Perhaps the long form is not the best for Jeeves and Wooster, as I found Right Ho, Jeeves to be the least of the three books. In order for the convoluted plot to continue to wind itself out, Jeeves had to be prevented from actually helping for most of the story. I spent most of the book waiting for Jeeves to apply his great brain to the trouble. He does, of course, and the ending is fully satisfying. The two collections are little boxes of perfect literary confections. Beautiful, funny stuff. So then, that's all, cheerio, tinkery-tonk.


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A Chronicle of Wonder

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This isn't really a review of The Martian Chronicles. It's just a reminder that you want to read it.

It is beautifully written and often moving. Bradbury's prose is often pure poetry. The title suggests it is about the red planet that we've seen through the eyes of NASA's robots, but that's not so. It is more about men than Martians and while the setting is otherworldly, the stories are very American.

Stories, by the way, not story. This is a novel in the broadest sense of the term. It is really a collection of stories on a theme, some related to others, some not. I have a great personal fondness for “Usher II,” which has often been excerpted in anthologies. May all censors visit such a house.

That's all I want to say. If you love beautiful writing you will find much to inspire you here.


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Fire Alarm

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to Fahrenheit 451. Just one of those things, I guess. Yesterday I was waiting for a train and I had nothing to read. I had just finished The Martian Chronicles. I stopped into a comic book shop and there was good old Ray Bradbury.

It was published in 1953 and is, if anything, more relevant today. The book is, of course, about censorship, but the real meat of it is on the question of what makes censorship happen. Bradbury shows us a future where mass media is so pervasive that people don't think, feel, or make significant personal connections. It is a future of big screen TVs and little radios stuck in our ears. Deep thinking and feeling are outré. They can lead to unhappiness. It is a culture of the elementary school where the outstanding nail is hammered down and anyone shown to be smarter or better or different is bullied into conformity. In such a culture books are a threat, but a minor one. The job of the censor is easy where the people don't read.

I finished reading the book when I was still a couple of hours away from home. I began to pay attention to the people around me. The woman to my right was watching a movie on her computer. A woman ahead of me tried to get her kids to read their homework assignments, but they begged to play with their computers. The books stayed with the luggage. Mom spent much of the ride playing Tetris. The guy beside me was listening to something on earphones. When I got up to stretch I saw the woman behind me was playing with her phone, smiling into the screen.

Are we amusing ourselves to death, as Neil Postman famously phrased it? Perhaps not quite yet. But Bradbury surely meant this to be a cautionary tale. We risk much by not heeding his warning now.


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Bad Day at the Bookstore

The lot beside the Brattle Book Shop is one of my favorite old haunts. Rows of outdoor bookstalls, all pretty cheap and sometimes very interesting. In the good old days I spent many an hour lost in the lot, looking for buried treasure. It is usually an island of peaceful contemplation in the mad and vulgar sea of Downtown Crossing. I don't get up that way much anymore, which is something I occasionally regret, but not today. Today a big crane came crashing down in the lot. None of the shoppers or booksellers were injured, but tragically one of the workers in the crane died.

Library Cops

What ya gonna do when they come for you?

Blateration

What a great idea. Save the Words is a clever little site that invites you to adopt and care for dying English words. I'm not sure which word to choose. I do tend to engage in a bit of blateration myself, but I just like the sound of snollygoster.
Link via Bibliophile Bullpen

Classic Spooky

The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Cox

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The reader of this volume of Victorian ghost stories must come equipped with a pre-existing fondness for the form. Any reader with that fondness would do well to obtain the spooky tome. The editors have done a fine job of pulling together some of the many gems of the genre. It has a nice mix of big names and lesser knowns, along with a couple of stories by our old friend “anonymous.” Among the biggies are Mrs Gaskell, Dickens, Henry James, M.R. James, Wilkie Collins, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Jerome K. Jerome, and Algernon Blackwood. I like the way the editors arranged the stories in chronological order. The careful reader will notice growth and change in the form as the years roll on, as well as seeing how the changing times affects the stories. If you are a sensitive soul like myself (I feel a case of the vapors coming on right now) you may want to read something cheerful between the ghastly tales. Such a concentrated dose of dark Victoriana does tend to darken one's mood.


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