Category: Reviewing

Two Stars or Not Two Stars? That is the Rating Question

Ad Astra Per Aspera

Latin for “To the Stars Through Difficulty” – the State motto of Kansas (my home state).

I decided I should more clearly define my rating scale used here on my blog for all my reviews.  I actually composed most of what follows for my GoodReads profile back when I joined that site in 2008.  GoodReads rating stars include a very brief description of what they mean when you hover over them with your mouse (one star = ‘didn’t like it’; two stars = ‘it was okay’; three stars = ‘liked it’; four stars = ‘really liked it’; and, five stars = ‘it was amazing’).

My difficulty arises from writing a review, not from applying a rating to what ever it is I am reviewing.  The following contains my completely subjective opinion on a five star scale for rating all kinds of things – books, movies, products, services, etc.

So on to the stars!

No Star (or One Star if required to select a minimum): A one star rating from me means I disliked and in some cases loathed the item before me. I would even go so far to equate my one star to no stars, but as I must assign at least a single star, this is my zero.

Two Stars: Two stars usually means I felt unmoved by the book or movie. Roughly equivalent to a “Fair” or “Okay” recommendation. Not something I would probably re-read or re-watch.

Three Stars: My three star rating represents the average to above average range, usually associated with “Good” for me. I might recommend the work and re-visit it, if no other new potential four or five star material was at hand.

Four Stars: When I recommend something to a friend, or even a total stranger, it invariably comes from something in this rating category. I often re-read works I give a four star rating to, because I enjoy reliving the adventure and the character struggles.

Five Stars: For items I just can’t get enough of. Books I’ve read countless times or movies I’ve watched so many times I know all the dialogue and scenes so well I’m wrenched when the networks edit them “to fit in the time allotted.” In the case of a book, a five star rating means I’ve become so emotionally attached to the characters that I’m devastated when I finish the book because I’m not in communion with them any longer. It also means I won’t be able to read a book for a day or two to recover emotionally.

DNF: Did Not Finish.  Pretty self-explanatory.  It just wasn’t my thing or it was affecting my mood or outlook on life negatively and I just needed it to stop.

* * *

I strive to be a five star Scrooge.  Something must be truly gifted, the very pinnacle of excellence, before I will bestow my highest honor upon it.  I am a bit more lenient with a four star rating, often waffling between three and four stars on most of what I consume.  I have friends and the Internet to thank for that last bit, since many other people have already expressed their opinions about just about anything and everything, so I can weed out the obvious chaff.

I also try to let my brain rest for a day or two before applying a rating and composing a review.  Unless,  of course, I couldn’t stomach it, then I’m quick to verbalize my loathing.   All of this only applies in my universe, the one between my ears, so please take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Book Review: The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would never have read this book without the nudging of my local library. The Poisonwood Bible hit my radar via the suggested reading list for the adult winter reading program, Destination: Anywhere, sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library. I don’t normally read this flavor of historical fiction, but once I got into the heads of all five women, I stayed the course and finished the book. Not quite in time for the book discussion held by the Trailblazers book club, but far enough along that I could fully participate in the discussion.

Synopsis from KC Library:

When a white preacher from Georgia uproots his family and replants them amid a jungle in the Belgian Congo, the scene is set for a life-threatening culture clash. Kingsolver tells this story from the revolving point-of-view of the wife and daughters of Nathan Price as they observe his repeated frustrations, such as local aversion to baptisms in the nearby river. The Price women watch with growing alarm as the consequences of political instability – involving the CIA – creep ever-closer. But politics never subsume this survival story that describes the toll of danger and decay, while exalting the healing that Africa promises.

Notes from book club discussion:

Most of the readers loved the book (I liked it, but didn’t absolutely love it). The discussion leader remarked it took nearly fifty pages before she really got into it. Many of us agreed it was a long book to attempt in a month (although I read nearly all 400+ pages in two days since the ebook only became available for checkout on the Thursday before the Saturday discussion).

Our leader also remarked she came from a Fundamentalist background and she had met many men similar to the Father portrayed by the four Price girls. Another reader felt the entire book encompassed guilt, especially the older twin, Leah. I remarked that of the four daughters and the mother, the character I identified with most was Adah.

We discussed the political situation in Africa and the Belgian Congo in particular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We talked about the return of the mother to Africa searching for Ruth Ann’s grave and Adah’s question to her mother about why she saved her later at the river (but not on the night of the ant invasion).

The discussion leader posed the question ‘Is this a woman’s book?’ to which we generally agreed. Written by a woman and featuring the thoughts and recollections of five women, how could it be anything else?

A reader commented how she always tries to find the connection between the title of a book and it’s contents. She struggled somewhat with it, but the discussion leader remarked that things in Africa will bite you and poison you, just like the poisonwood tree did to the Father, even after he was warned by the locals to steer very clear of it. Another reader likened the Bible of the Father to his dissemination of poison to his family and Congonese congregation through his blind faith and intolerant uncompromising adherence to a strict literal interpretation of the Bible. We discussed the differences we see now in modern missions to third world countries, which practice more respect for local customs and preach through service, not shouted espousals and condemnations.

We continued our discussion, moving on to the theme of the novel, proposed by our leader as being only a person born in Africa can truly understand it. We talked about the grandchildren’s visit to Atlanta and their wonder and amazement by the grocery store, filled with many things no one needs. Compared to the subsistence near-starvation standard of living back ‘home’ in Africa, the grandchildren could not fathom the overabundance sprawling across the store shelves.

We wrapped up the discussion with the leader asking us if we had difficulty following the shifting timelines and points of view. I commented that I had no trouble keeping track, but also mentioned that I routinely read epic fantasy which excels at sprawl, large casts of characters, myriad subplots and unexpected shifts in place and time.

My Final Thoughts:

Before I read the last few pages of The Poisonwood Bible, I had decided I would only alot three stars to my rating. At that point, I liked the book, but I didn’t love it. However, with the return of a long silent voice whispering grace and peace to her mother, I resolved to increase the rating to four stars. Officially, I’d still give it a 3.5, but I’m rounding up for the tears I shed on the last paragraph of the last page of The Poisonwood Bible.

Quotes/Highlights Marked While Reading eBook:

*** Warning:  Spoilers Below ***

‘I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentence.’ Orleanna, Book Two, p. 79

‘Oh, and the camel. Was it a camel that could pass through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man? Or a coarse piece of yarn? The Hebrew words are the same, but which one did they mean? If it’s a camel, the rich man might as well not even try. But if it’s the yarn, he might well succeed with a lot of effort, you see?’ Rachel quoting Brother Fowles, Book Three, p. 189

‘God doesn’t need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves.’ Leah, Book Four, p. 244

‘I’m sure Father resented his own daughter being such a distraction. It’s just lucky for Father he never had any sons. he might have been forced to respect them.’ Rachel on Leah joining the hunting party, Book Four, p. 252

‘In organic chemistry, invertebrate zoology, and the inspired symmetry of Mendelian genetics, I have found a religion that serves. I recite the Periodic Table of Elements like a prayer. I take my examinations as Holy Communion, and the pass of the first semester was a sacrament. My mind is crowded with a forest of facts. Between the trees lie wide-open plains of despair. I skirt around them. I stick to the woods.’ Adah, Book Five, p. 303

‘I learned the balance of power in one long Congolese night, when the drive ants came: Out into the moonlight where the ground boild and there stood Mother like a tree rooted motionless in the middle of a storm. Mother staring at me, holding Ruth May in her arms, weighing the two of us against one another. The sweet intact child with golden ringlets and perfectly paired strong legs, or the dark mute adolescent dragging a stubborn half-body. Which? After hesitating only a second, she choose to save perfection and leave the damaged. Everyone must choose.’ Adah, Book Five, p. 306

‘It’s the only time I get homesick, when America lands on my doorstep in a missionary guise. … They’re so unlike Father. As I bear the emptiness of life without God, it’s a comfort to know these soft-spoken men who organize hospitals under thatched roofs, or stoop alongside village mamas to plant soybeans, or rig up electrical generators for a school. They’ve risked … every imaginable parasite in the backwater places where children were left to die or endure when the Underdowns and their ilk fled the country. As Brother Fowles told us long ago: there are Christians, and there are Christians.’ Leah, Book Five, p. 324

‘What I carried out of Congo on my crooked little back is a ferocious uncertainty about the worth of a life. And now I am becoming a doctor. How very sensible of me.’ Adah, Book Five, p. 331

‘I called her. It was the dead-flat middle of the night. The night before Christmas and all through the house I am Adah who expects no gifts, Adah who does not need or care what others say. Yet I woke up my mother and finally asked her why she choose me, that day at the Kwenge River. Mother hesitated, understanding that there were many wrong answers. I did not want to hear that the others could take care of themselves, nor that she felt she had no other choice. Finally she said, “After Ruth May you were my youngest, Adah. When push comes to shove, a mother takes care of her children from the bottom up.” … I find this remarkably comforting. I have decided to live with it.’ Adah, Book Five, p. 331-2

‘Adah got a very strange look and said, “He got The Verse. … the last one. Old Testament. Second Maccabees 13:4 … I must have gotten that one fifty times. It’s the final ‘The Verse’ in the Old Testament … One-hundred-count from the end. If you include the Apocrypha, which of course he always did. … the Closing statement of the Old Testament: ‘So this will be the end.'” Rachel quoting Adah as they discuss their Father’s demise in a blaze of glory, Book Five, p. 370

‘There is not justice in this world. Father, forgive me wherever you are, but this world has brought one vile abomination after another down on the heads of the gentle, and I’ll not live to see the meek inherit anything. What there is in this world, I think, is a tendency for human errors to level themselves like water throughout their sphere of influence. … There’s the possibility of balance. Unbearable burdens that the world somehow does bear with a certain grace.’ Leah, Book Six, p. 395

‘When Albert Schweizter walked into the jungle, bless his heart, he carried antibacterials and a potent, altogether new conviction that no one should die young. He meant to save every child, thinking Africa would then learn how to have fewer children. But when families have spent a million years making nine in the hope of saving one, they cannot stop making nine. Culture is a slingshot moved by the force of its past. when the strap lets go, what flies forward will not be family planning, it will be the small, hard head of a child. Over-population has deforested three-quarters of Africa, yielding drought, famine, and the probable extinction of all animals most beloved by children and zoos. … No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thievery and foreign goodwill.’ Adah, Book Six, p. 400

‘Mother, you can still hold on but forgive, forgive and give for long as long as we both shall live I forgive you, Mother. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember. Think of the vine that curls from the small square plot that was once my heart. That is the only marker you need. Move on. Walk forward into the light.’ Ruth May, Book Seven, p. 412

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Devil in the White City by Larson (3.5 Stars)

The Devil In The White City: Murder, Magic, And Madness At The Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Read in January 2012

I wanted to give this four stars, and I leaned heavily toward a 3.5 star rating, but ultimately, I settled for three stars. I liked it, but I did not love it. Bright gems gleamed amid the offal, but not enough of them to dazzle my mind’s eye with the gleam of the White City.

I enjoyed the writing style of Erik Larson, which made it easier for me to read a non-fiction book. Granted, I do enjoy a well written history, but Larson included elements common to a mystery or crime fiction novel that kept me turning pages. That being said, however, the two halves of this book (the history of the Worlds Colombian Exhibition of 1893 and the escapades of Dr. H.H. Holmes (and his many aliases)) interspersed with seemingly irrelevant trivia did not a cohesive whole make. And even though I found some of the trivial excerpts jarring, they nonetheless touched me to the quick. Two or three examples come readily to mind:

Chance encounters led to magic. Frank Haven Hall, superintendent of the Illinois Institution of the Blind, unveiled a new device that made plates for printing books in Braille. Previously Hall had invented a machine capable of typing in Braille, the Hall Braille Writer, which he never patented because he felt profit should not sully the cause of serving the blind. As he stood by his newest machine, a blind girl and her escort approached him. Upon learning that Hall was the man who had invented the typewriter she used so often, the girl put her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug and kiss. Forever afterward, whenever Hall told this story of how he met Helen Keller, tears would fill his eyes. (p. 285)

(Buffalo Bill) Cody upstaged the fair again in July, when exposition officials rejected a request from Mayor Carter Harrison that the fair dedicate one day to the poor children of Chicago and admit them at no charge. The directors that this was too much to ask, given their struggle to boost the rate of paid admission. Every ticket, even half-price children’s tickets, matter. Buffalo Bill promptly declared Waif’s Day at the Wild West and offered any kid in Chicago a free train ticket, free admission to the show and free access to the whole Wild West encampment, plus all the candy and ice cream the children could eat. Fifteen thousand showed up. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West may indeed have been an ‘incongruity,’ as the directors had declared in rejecting his request for a concession within Jackson Park, but the citizens of Chicago had fallen in love. (p. 251)

No one saw Twain. He came to Chicago to see the fair but got sick and spent eleven days in his hotel room, then left without ever seeing the White City. Of all people. (p. 285)

Another passage (pp. 285-286) recounted a passing of the torch from the pioneers of the west (in the person of Buffalo Bill Cody) and those of the future (in the person of Susan B. Anthony). This encounter, on a Sunday morning at his Wild West Show, “brought the audience to its feet in a thunder of applause and cheers. The frontier may indeed have closed at last, … but for that moment it stood there glittering in the sun like the track of a spent tear.”

I did not find the relation of Holmes’ psychopathic serial killings overly horrifying (and what does that say about me and/or our times?). But neither did I feel compelled to ferret out his motivations or worry whether justice would be served. Larson had to take some artistic license in recreating some of the murders, but nothing modern journalists or other ‘true crime’ authors haven’t done as well. Perhaps the suspense became ‘suspended’ for me since many of the quotes from Holmes referred to his Confession, which implies his capture, conviction and sentence execution.

I finished reading this book a bare two hours before attending the Common Grounds Book Group discussion sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library and featured in the Winter 2012 Adult Reading Program “Destination: Anywhere.” Librarian Katie Stover hosted the discussion in a corner of the Nine Muses Cafe’ at the Central branch. About ten of us (nine women and one brave young man named Alberto) joined in the discussion. The following are some of the questions and answers we tossed on the table among the tea and coffee.

Why is this such a popular book? A look at the behind-the-scenes of this Exhibition and how it came about on such a tight schedule (less than two years) and overcame calamities and catastrophes. Larson’s detailed research made you feel as if you were there, present, at the events occurring in Chicago in the 1890s. He accomplished this without the use of any dialog (beyond quotes from diaries and journals).

Why write these two stories together? And do you believe Holmes committed two hundred murders? Holmes creating his personal ‘deathatorium’ by designing and building his mansion and keeping everyone, including the construction workers, from realizing his real plans.

What happened to his first wife and child? In this respect, the author left us in the dark, never circling back to tie up those loose ends. Perhaps, no record existed to relate their fate.

Why did Holmes do it? Did he believe himself evil? Was he compelled by some physiological imbalance? Holmes was ambitious and driven (contrastingly, so was the lead architect for the White City, Burnham). Yet Holmes held no remorse for his action. He knew he was doing wrong, otherwise why would he have gone to such lengths to cover his tracks and conceal or destroy evidence? We all agreed that being a devil reflected a figure of speech, not a true personification of evil, because if you don’t believe in God, how can you truly believe in the Devil?

We moved on to lighter topics, pondering the ‘cool’ things that were introduced at the Exhibition (some of which still exist today), including: A Ferris wheel, hot dogs, shredded wheat, Cracker Jacks, alternating current electricity, inspiration for Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom (his father was one of the carpenters who built the White City).

I mentioned the research I planned to do based on a couple of sentences found on p. 29: “Three years later a hotel they (Burnham and Root) had designed in Kansas City collapsed during construction, injuring several men and killing one. Burnham was heartbroken. The city convened a coroner’s inquest, which focused its attention on the building’s design. For the first time in his career, Burnham found himself facing public attack.” Again, Larson did not return to this tidbit, so I shall see what I can dredge up from microfiche or microfilm on the Third Floor of the Central branch.

Someone else read a passage the summed up the wonder of the White City (from p. 254):

For many visitors these nightly illuminations were their first encounter with electricity. Hilda Satt, a girl newly arrived from Poland, went to the fair with her father. ‘As the light was fading in the sky, millions of lights were suddenly flashed on, all at one time,’ she recalled years later. ‘Having seen nothing but kerosene lamps for illumination, this was like getting a sudden vision of Heaven.’ Her father told her the lights were activated by electrical switches. ‘Without matches?’ she asked.

Another person contrasted this divine vision, with the irony of boys chasing excitedly after the train carrying Krupp’s gun, which in but a few years would be used to kill them as war erupted across Europe.

Our discussion wrapped up by musing about how easily Holmes faded from one alias to another, how he avoided his creditors and mesmerized women by the dozens. We wondered why only an uncle of one of his wives (some of which he was married to concurrently) saw through Holmes’ beguiling veil to the heart of his dastardly deeds.

Book Review: Eisenhower 1956 by Nichols

Eisenhower 1956: The President’s Year of Crisis–Suez and the Brink of War by David A. Nichols

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I read non-fiction, which isn’t often enough, I tend to favor biographies or histories. I picked up Nichols’ detailed microscopic compilation of a critical year in the life of President Eisenhower based on a review my uncle wrote. Being born and raised and still living in Kansas, I have an understandable preoccupation with one of our most famous and respected residents.

The extent of Nichols’ meticulous research impressed me. His delivery of the facts and circumstances and thoughts of key players (gleaned from personal notes and diaries) brought me to the center of the conflicts and the crises. I queried many older friends and family on what they remembered of 1956 (since I wasn’t born until eight years later), most of whom were too young at the time to really remember the Suez Canal crisis.

That didn’t stop me from feeling an echo of the anxiety and the beginning of our national belief in ‘mutually assured destruction’ (MAD – a very apropos acronym, don’t you think?). Eisenhower’s early understanding of the true horrors of thermonuclear warfare paved the way for his campaign of waging peace, even at the expense of some short-sighted WWII Allies. (For a great glimpse into an early (and now classic) apocalyptic novel, please see Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, originally published in 1959 – click here for my review).

While reading this book, I visited the website for the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. I learned the current exhibit entitled ‘Eisenhower: Agent of Change‘ ran until the end of January and the Library celebrates fifty years in 2012. As soon as I finished the book, I convinced my husband we needed to visit Abilene, since I could barely remember the last/first time I visited the Eisenhower Center (probably forty years ago or more). We spent a pleasant Saturday exploring the Museum, Library, boyhood home (intact and preserved on the grounds), the grounds and the final resting place of Dwight, Mamie and their son Doud (who died at the age of 3 in 1921).

View all my reviews

A Few of My Favorite Things (My Best Books of 2011)

I met my self-imposed reading goal of seventy-five books read during 2011.  That’s approximately twenty-five fewer books than I read in the previous two years, but only about two thousand pages off my normal pace.

Click on this picture for further information and drill-down granularity

Seventy-five books seems to be the maximum number I can read and still squeeze in exercise and employment.

Some of my favorite reads included the following (click on the link to see my review … if there isn’t a link it’s because I haven’t written a review yet):

Printed Books:

eBooks:

  • Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper
  • Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  • Initiate’s Trial by Janny Wurts
  • Field of Dishonor by David Weber

I will set my reading goal for 2012 to 75 or 80 books.  I am also limiting myself to only purchasing ebooks for my Nook Color.  Another goal I’ve set for myself is to reduce the number of books I have in my house by reading and disposing of them (through donations most likely).

Book Review: Ready Player One by Cline

Ready Player OneReady Player One by Ernest Cline

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I must say Ready Player One easily and quickly became one of my funnest and most memorable reads of 2011. Wade Watts lives in the not too distant dystopian future (mostly in America, but implied world wide aftermath of the post-fossil fuel era). He (and the majority of what’s left of humanity) escapes the ravages of poverty and orphanhood through the virtual OASIS reality. When the founder and creator of OASIS dies, he leaves his vast fortune (multi-billions) to whoever can find the egg he hid somewhere in the infinitely vast OASIS universe. Since Halliday obsessed on 80s culture, music, movies and early video games, he expected everyone else to join him. He succeeded posthumously by enshrining the clues to the egg in obscure 80s lore.

Ah, the early geeky memories that flashed before my eyes.

I played Zork and Adventure both. Neither of the two computers I grew up with were listed in the book: a home built Digital Group computer running a very early version of DOS and a Xerox 820 running C/PM. My favorite game (also not mentioned in the book), even more so than Adventure, was one called Nemesis by Supersoft. It’s Rogue-like (which I prefer to an all-text based interactive story-type game like Adventure). I yearned to play it again, especially while reading the Second Gate section of Ready Player One, so I found a copy via a Google search. Now to find a C/PM emulator that will run on Windows (or Linus) so I can really revisit the ‘good ole days.’

Wargames and Ladyhawke are both two of my favorite movies from the 80s era and the play a significant role in the egg hunt. On the music font, Rush (one of my favorite bands, after Styx and Kansas) provided key elements to the final third of the quest. I almost dug around in my basement for my old dusty Rush albums, but left them to rest in peace. Besides, my husband’s band covers older Rush songs so I get a Rush-fix at least once a week.

I am very glad Cline didn’t spend much time on the fashions of the day and I ignored most of the other music references (as I was a metal head and refused to listen to pop music). I played nearly all the arcade games mentioned EXCEPT for Tempest.

I wanted more real world information, to learn about the fall of civilization and the consequences of ignoring the ever worsening and appalling conditions rising to destroy what’s left of humanity. Some readers have likened Wade Watts to a ‘Mary Sue’ type character, which is hard to refute since the tale is told in first-person from his point of view. Characterization, aside from Wade, could have been fleshed out more. If a sequel is in the works, I look forward to a deeper look into this world and these characters.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone with a smidgen of geekiness who also happens to be born in the mid-60s or very early 70s (i.e. were you a teenager during the 80s?).

View all my reviews

Novella Review: The Machine Stops by Forster

The Machine Stops The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

I found this gem yesterday via Feedbooks public domain short stories listings. I raised my eyebrows when I saw E.M. Forster wrote a science fiction novella (in 1909). I love reading dystopian fiction, provided I space it between less depressing offerings. Forster surprised me with not one dystopian future, but two. His ideas mixed to form a somewhat steampunkish voluntary Matrix benevolent Terminator mashup.

View all my reviews

Book Review: Maphead by Jennings

For my twenty-first installment in my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I am grateful for my sense of direction, my spatial awareness and love of maps and geography. This post will do double duty as it also masquerades as a book review of Ken Jennings’ recently released Maphead.

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography WonksMaphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
by Ken Jennings

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
(actually more like 3.5 stars, but GoodReads doesn’t allow half star ratings)

A quick read, similar in format and informality to Ken’s inaugural Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs book. All twelve chapter titles included a cartographic definition together with a quote. For example, the first chapter entitled ‘Eccentricity’ with the definition ‘the deformation of an elliptical map projection’ and the Pat Conroy quote ‘My wound is geography.’

My favorite chapter falls in the center, halfway from nowhere to somewhere, Chapter 6 ‘Legend’ with a definition of ‘an explanatory list of the symbols on a map’ and the C.S. Lewis quote ‘Most of us, I suppose, have a secret country, but for most of us it is only an imaginary country.’ I did a double-take when I read on p. 113 that Brandon Sanderson and Ken Jennings were college roommates. I heartily agree with Brandon’s assertion that ‘The hallmark of epic fantasy is immersion’ and that’s why he always includes maps in his books. Brandon goes on to relate to Ken that he ‘started to look and make sure a book had a map. That was one of the measures of whether it was going to be a good book or not.” When Brandon first read The Lord of the Rings he thought, ‘Oho, he [Tolkien] knows what he’s doing. A map and an appendix!’ Ken states a few paragraphs later that ‘Fantasy readers like that abrupt drop into the deep end and the learning curve it takes to keep up’ further affirmed by Brandon’s confirmation that ‘By the end of a big epic fantasy novel, you’ll have to become an expert in this world that doesn’t exist. It’s challenging.’

Pauline Baynes' map poster of Middle-earth published in 1970 by George Allen & Unwin and Ballantine Books.

I felt affirmed and validated for years of pouring over maps of fictional non-existent realms. I once thought to recreate the map of Middle Earth as a tapestry to hang proudly in my living room or library. One of the first prints I purchased from a newly favorite epic fantasy author, Janny Wurts, was a large format (40×30 inches) map of Athera, solely because I wanted to be able to trace (without squinting or resorting to a magnifying glass and the loss of the center of the map to the no man’s land in the binding of the books) the routes of Arithon, Elaira, Dakar, Lysaer and other characters intrinsic to her Wars of Light and Shadow epic fantasy series. The first thing I did upon receiving the next Wheel of Time novel was to skim through for any new maps interspersed in the chapters and sections. Back in the mid80s, I purchased both the Atlas of the Land and the The Atlas of Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad so I could pour over even more imaginary maps while waiting for the next Pern or Thomas Covenant novel to be published. But I digress, tangentially, from the book at hand.

In Chapter 9 ‘Transit’ (definition: ‘a piece of surveying equipment used by mapmakers: a theodolite with a reversible telescope’), Ken sparked my interest in road rallies (something I always wanted to do when my husband was a member of the local SCCA). I always excelled at those trick-question instruction test in school, so I might just try Jim Sinclair’s annual St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (a contest by mail where you travel a circuitous course across American from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Statue of Liberty entirely by maps) next year. That is if I can find a way to sign up; an Internet search came up oddly sparse.

Ken introduced me to ‘geocaching’ in Chapter 10 ‘Overedge’ (definition: ‘the portion of the map that lies outside the neatline border’), which so intrigue me that I grabbed my Nook Color and signed up at Geocaching.com, even though I don’t even own a GPS unit (outside of the one in my dumbphone which doesn’t have any ‘free’ software associated with it to assist in finding or placing geocaches).

Overall, I enjoyed the few hours I spent geeking over cartography and geography with Ken Jennings as my tour guide. I learned a few things and I laughed out loud a couple of times. I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend, especially if cold November rain greets you on the other side of the door.

View all my reviews

Reader of the Vast Tomes

For the third day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I wish to express my appreciation of reading books.  I can’t remember of a time when I didn’t know how to read, going clear back to when I was three or four years old.  By the time I finished second grade, I believe I had finished all the Laura Ingalls Wilder Prairie books and started working through my mom’s old collection of Nancy Drew novels (printed in the 30s or before), as well as a few Hardy Boys and Trixie Beldon mysteries.  I also remember reading Black Beauty and Little Women several times.  Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass come to mind as well as some Jules Verne.  I loved (and still re-read) C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia and own a large hardcover omnibus edition, which I place prominently on my Shelf of Honor.

As I approached middle school age, I became exposed to other genres, including science fiction and horror.  During my early teen years, I couldn’t read enough Stephen King.  I still consider The Stand to be one of his best novels and a great example of post-apocalyptic fiction.  But there came a point when the thrills paled and the terror became predictable.  I did an about-face, a complete one-eighty and dived into epic fantasy.  I have rarely, if ever, looked back.

Epic Fantasy Tomes

Why did epic fantasy appeal to me?  The size of the books.  Yes, I prefer tomes.  The longer the book (or series), the happier I am.  I read fast (not as fast as I did during my young adult hood, but still no slouch).  Of the three novels shown in the photo above, the Janny Wurts novel on my Nook Color is the longest, weighing in at 749 pages.  The classic, by Twain, and Vinge’s Rainbow’s End are actually approximately the same size in length: between 350 and 400 pages.  If I put my mind to it, had few distractions, and really enjoyed the novel, I could finish either of the paperbacks in a day.  Janny’s writing, however, is dense, rich and full of revelations and layers that require concentration.  I will enjoy her prose for a minimum of ten days, and again in the future, because there’s always something new to find in her work when you re-visit it.

While Janny’s latest publication, the very recently released Initiate’s Trial, seems long to the casual reader at nearly twice the size of a normal paperback, to me it is a good sized epic fantasy novel.

The longest books I’ve read in the last three years include:

  1. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (read in 2009) ~ 1,024 pages
  2. The Way of Kings (read in 2010) ~ 1,007 pages
  3. The Wise Man’s Fear (read in 2011) ~ 994 pages

For more of my book stats, visit my stats page at GoodReads.

Book Clubs

I spent most of the 90s and the first half of the 00s raising children and helping my chronically ill husband all while working full-time.  So basically, for a decade or a decade and a half, I stopped reading.  Not completely, of course, because I read technical manuals and references guides for work and I occasionally picked up a novel off the new release shelf at the library.   But I had blinders on and wasn’t taking advantage of the wealth of information available via the Internet.

About three years ago, a friend on Facebook invited me to join GoodReads, a social network site for bibliophiles.  I felt like I’d found the keys to the gates of heaven.  I quickly found online book clubs that aligned with my readings interests, signing up immediately with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club.   That quickly followed with Beyond Reality (which seems to be my favorite place to hang out for the moment).   Eventually, I joined (and now help moderate) the Fantasy Book Club and the sister group Fantasy Book Club Series.

My awareness of reading and reviewing skyrocketed and pushed me to branch out in the ‘real world.’  Conveniently located in the building I spend Photo0960.jpgevery weekday in is a branch of the Kansas City Public Library.  I participated in reading challenges and seasonal book clubs, some of which I’ve written blog posts about here (including:  ‘A Taste of Victorian Literature‘; ‘Altered States‘; ‘Readers in the Rue Morge’; and, ‘The Big Read‘ featuring Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer).

 

Accessible Authors

As if reading, reviewing and discussing novels wasn’t wonderful enough, the real icing on the cake comes from the authors themselves.  Unlike in the 80s when I had to write a letter on a manual typewriter and snail mail it to one of my favorite authors with a question (I did this with Barbara Hambly, Piers Anthony and Stephen R. Donaldson – all of whom replied courtesy the self-addressed stamped enveloped I provided them), today’s authors write blogs, tweet via Twitter and participate eagerly at GoodReads either as discussion leaders or via dedicated Q&A topics  posted for the chosen Book of the Month they wrote.  Without their talent, imagination, perseverance and passion, I would have less to read, both in quantity and quality.

I highly recommend the following author blogs:

Back to the Future

I still love the heft of a heavy hardcover edition of a treasured classic epic fantasy … for about five minutes.  I may have turned the final page of my last new hardcover.  Any future purchases will be made solely to support a favorite author, with the hope of meeting the author and asking for their autograph on the title page.  For the lion’s share of my reading, and to preserve both my weakening eyesight and the strain on my hands and arms, I will peruse the hundreds of novels and thousands of pages on my Nook Color ereader tablet, which is smart enough to turn off the light and mark my page when I doze off to sleep each night.  Thanks again to my husband, for gifting me with this amazing product.

Book Review: Mockingjay by Collins

MockingjayMockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this as part of the The Hunger Games Trilogy omnibus ebook edition.

I had high hopes for the final novel of the series, especially after thoroughly enjoying the second novel, Catching Fire. I agree with a few other GoodReads reviewers who stated that Collins accomplished her goal in painting the stark reality that war and violence accomplish nothing and apparently humans can’t help but repress and destroy each other, even unto their own extinction.

I also had hope of learning more about the history that led up to the rise of the Panem. But Collins only choose to go back three generations and only once or twice made a reference to the world before the rise of the Panem from the ashes of our civilization.

I suspect a nod to Ray Bradbury in the name of the sharp shooter squad District 13 assigned Katniss and Gale to as part of the rebel army. The prevalence of Ancient Roman names among the Capital citizens and a reference to ‘bread and circuses’ paints the Panem as a resurrected Roman Empire imploding faster than the original.

While predictable, the ending left me dissatisfied. I don’t feel comfortable recommending this book to young adults, even though Collins wrote it for that audience.

As a ‘former’ parent (my kids are grown, either married or in college), I would treat this entire trilogy just like an R-rated movie. Don’t read it unless you’re seventeen (sixteen maybe), mostly due to the violence and gore. Very little if any sexual content exists in any of these novels.

View all my reviews