Highlights of 2011 Books Thus Far
It turns out that going to the gym really cuts into the time available to read, so this list is somewhat shorter than it might otherwise have been.
I've previously stated that I wasn't a big fan of The Walking Dead, as I found it to be unimaginative and cliched to the point that I stopped reading about finishing the first four trade paperbacks. However, I've got a bunch of friends who really, really like it, and so when I saw trades 5-9 on the library shelf I decided to give Robert Kirkman's zombie tale another go. Once again I run into unimaginative copy/pastes from Romero, but at least they're less blatant. The storyline does improve significantly from the first four trades; I'm in no hurry to read the rest but I'll probably get around to it some day.
I read yuki_onna's new book "The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, v.1." I've now read five of her books, and this was pretty easily my second favorite, after only Under in the Mere. The framing story is by far the best of the ones she has used so far, and the mythical kingdom of Prester John is far more imaginative than your standard fairy tale kingdom. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
So far I've only tackled one piece of non-fiction this year. That book is Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, which is Lawrence of Arabia's account of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. If you've seen Lawrence of Arabia you know the broad outlines. Lawrence, a relatively junior officer in the British Army, more or less takes upon it himself to advise the Arab forces in a guerrilla war that ties up a large portion of the Turkish army, enabling the British army to conquer Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
The book is utterly enthralling, and if the fact-checkers can be believed, largely true. Having been written in the 1920s by son of a baron, it does suffer from a certain amount of condescending by Lawrence. It's more of an attitude of "oh look, isn't it amazing how the Arabs managed this in spite of their disadvantages" than of overt racism. The Turks fair worse; at one point Lawrence is amazed when a Turkish unit manages to put up a defense, only to find that it had German officers. "Well that explains it" he says. However, if you can get past this tone, which only crops up occasionally, you'll probably find it to be an entertaining read, especially if you like military history.
I finally got around to reading the The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, which xhollydayx brought home while helping inastateofhope pack up her apartment. I read it one sitting, even though this meant staying up to nearly 2am on a work night. Needless to say, I found it compelling. It's an excellent combination of noir (a down on the luck detective gets a case seemingly nobody wants him to solve) and alternative history (4 million Jewish refugees from the Holocaust end up in Sitka, Alaska during the war and stay there after Israel is wiped off the map). Now I'll admit that it probably helps to be Jewish to like this book, and some familiarity with Yiddish slang wouldn't hurt, but I don't think either is a requirement by any means. Chabon is a master of characterization; every single character has, from the minor snitch who fills three pages to the lead detective (and everyone in between) is interesting. My only complaint is that when the scheme is eventually uncovered it's rather boring and has been done before. On the other hand, it's note perfect for the book, so I guess I can't complain too much. I'll definitely be reading more Chabon in the future.
I randomly picked up the trade of the mini-series Absolution, written by Christos Gage and drawn by Roberto Viacava. In the DC and Marvel universes, the vast majority of superheroes apprehend their enemies instead of killing them. Although this is probably because it's easier to recycle a catchy villain ("oh no, the Joker has escaped again!") than to think up a new one every month, this is usually framed as some sort of moral code. The Punisher is the main exception to this rule, and he is usually shown as having been driven mad by his overwhelming need for revenge.
In Absolution, John Dusk is a superhero (specifically a greatly weakened clone of Green Lantern) who carries a badge as a member of the local police department's Special Victims Unit. Like many cops, he begins to be fed up by the rules that protect the bad guys, and that ultimately put them back out on the street where they can hurt more people. He decides in calm and rational manner that the rules are wrong, and begins killing the bad guys, ranging from super villains to child molesters. He only kills people he knows are guilty but who the police can't touch.
I suppose from the standpoint of law & order, I'd like to say that public reaction to Dusk's vigilantism was disgust and imprisonment. Needless to say, that's not the case here. The public loves and fully endorses his string of murders, which is probably what would really happen in the real world in this scenario. In any event, I found it to be an interesting read.
Wikipedia has this to say about Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost: Love's Labour's Lost is often thought of as Shakespeare's most flamboyantly intellectual play. It abounds in sophisticated wordplay, puns, and literary allusions and is filled with clever pastiches of contemporary poetic forms. ... This style is the principal reason why it has never been among Shakespeare's most popular plays; the pedantic humour makes it extremely inaccessible to contemporary theatregoers. And this is indeed spot on. It may be one of the shorter plays in the canon, but it probably had more footnotes per page than any other Shakespeare thus far, with seemingly all of them explaining why this word choice was actually a laugh riot back in 1595.
Needless to say, I can see why the 2000 film by Branagh was the first ever film adaptation of the work. I can also see why Branagh felt compelled to hack the already short script, to update most of the language, and to splice in a 1930s movie musical. Although my sister and I adored the results, we were in the minority, and the source material is ultimately the cause.
I've previously stated that I wasn't a big fan of The Walking Dead, as I found it to be unimaginative and cliched to the point that I stopped reading about finishing the first four trade paperbacks. However, I've got a bunch of friends who really, really like it, and so when I saw trades 5-9 on the library shelf I decided to give Robert Kirkman's zombie tale another go. Once again I run into unimaginative copy/pastes from Romero, but at least they're less blatant. The storyline does improve significantly from the first four trades; I'm in no hurry to read the rest but I'll probably get around to it some day.
I read yuki_onna's new book "The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, v.1." I've now read five of her books, and this was pretty easily my second favorite, after only Under in the Mere. The framing story is by far the best of the ones she has used so far, and the mythical kingdom of Prester John is far more imaginative than your standard fairy tale kingdom. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
So far I've only tackled one piece of non-fiction this year. That book is Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, which is Lawrence of Arabia's account of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. If you've seen Lawrence of Arabia you know the broad outlines. Lawrence, a relatively junior officer in the British Army, more or less takes upon it himself to advise the Arab forces in a guerrilla war that ties up a large portion of the Turkish army, enabling the British army to conquer Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
The book is utterly enthralling, and if the fact-checkers can be believed, largely true. Having been written in the 1920s by son of a baron, it does suffer from a certain amount of condescending by Lawrence. It's more of an attitude of "oh look, isn't it amazing how the Arabs managed this in spite of their disadvantages" than of overt racism. The Turks fair worse; at one point Lawrence is amazed when a Turkish unit manages to put up a defense, only to find that it had German officers. "Well that explains it" he says. However, if you can get past this tone, which only crops up occasionally, you'll probably find it to be an entertaining read, especially if you like military history.
I finally got around to reading the The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, which xhollydayx brought home while helping inastateofhope pack up her apartment. I read it one sitting, even though this meant staying up to nearly 2am on a work night. Needless to say, I found it compelling. It's an excellent combination of noir (a down on the luck detective gets a case seemingly nobody wants him to solve) and alternative history (4 million Jewish refugees from the Holocaust end up in Sitka, Alaska during the war and stay there after Israel is wiped off the map). Now I'll admit that it probably helps to be Jewish to like this book, and some familiarity with Yiddish slang wouldn't hurt, but I don't think either is a requirement by any means. Chabon is a master of characterization; every single character has, from the minor snitch who fills three pages to the lead detective (and everyone in between) is interesting. My only complaint is that when the scheme is eventually uncovered it's rather boring and has been done before. On the other hand, it's note perfect for the book, so I guess I can't complain too much. I'll definitely be reading more Chabon in the future.
I randomly picked up the trade of the mini-series Absolution, written by Christos Gage and drawn by Roberto Viacava. In the DC and Marvel universes, the vast majority of superheroes apprehend their enemies instead of killing them. Although this is probably because it's easier to recycle a catchy villain ("oh no, the Joker has escaped again!") than to think up a new one every month, this is usually framed as some sort of moral code. The Punisher is the main exception to this rule, and he is usually shown as having been driven mad by his overwhelming need for revenge.
In Absolution, John Dusk is a superhero (specifically a greatly weakened clone of Green Lantern) who carries a badge as a member of the local police department's Special Victims Unit. Like many cops, he begins to be fed up by the rules that protect the bad guys, and that ultimately put them back out on the street where they can hurt more people. He decides in calm and rational manner that the rules are wrong, and begins killing the bad guys, ranging from super villains to child molesters. He only kills people he knows are guilty but who the police can't touch.
I suppose from the standpoint of law & order, I'd like to say that public reaction to Dusk's vigilantism was disgust and imprisonment. Needless to say, that's not the case here. The public loves and fully endorses his string of murders, which is probably what would really happen in the real world in this scenario. In any event, I found it to be an interesting read.
Wikipedia has this to say about Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost: Love's Labour's Lost is often thought of as Shakespeare's most flamboyantly intellectual play. It abounds in sophisticated wordplay, puns, and literary allusions and is filled with clever pastiches of contemporary poetic forms. ... This style is the principal reason why it has never been among Shakespeare's most popular plays; the pedantic humour makes it extremely inaccessible to contemporary theatregoers. And this is indeed spot on. It may be one of the shorter plays in the canon, but it probably had more footnotes per page than any other Shakespeare thus far, with seemingly all of them explaining why this word choice was actually a laugh riot back in 1595.
Needless to say, I can see why the 2000 film by Branagh was the first ever film adaptation of the work. I can also see why Branagh felt compelled to hack the already short script, to update most of the language, and to splice in a 1930s movie musical. Although my sister and I adored the results, we were in the minority, and the source material is ultimately the cause.