Just a Touch of Whimsy

                 
This year's reading theme is all about reading on a whim, and not to a set program of categories or amounts.  So far it has been kind of boring, not knowing what to read next, but I have been getting used to the idea, and have even begun to enjoy it.  I have not been reading as much as I have been previously, and it feels strange not to (so this month I have been focusing more on books).  Fellow members from the 2014 Reading Challenge have been very encouraging of my scheme and have also mentioned the crime fiction of Dorothy L. Sayers and her character Lord Peter Wimsey.  So, on a whim, I have decided that it might be fun to read some.
Naturally I started at the beginning with Whose Body.  I found the story to be quite shocking, actually.   Written in the twenties, it has that Wodehouse kind of flair (sans humour), being situated in London, and  this time period 1920's) has always been one of my favorites.  I liked Wimsey, and his universe.  I look forward to reading more about this character.

The Rest of the Robots

                                   
Not having a structured reading challenge this year (I have decided to be very whimsical about it this year), I started out by just opening up a box of books and diving in. I have over the past couple of years just placed my purchases into boxes after buying them with no effort to inventory whatever is inside, so it is a literal surprise to see what is in each box, and a great deal of fun.  This week I opened my first box and here was this lovely treat inside (admittedly every book in the box was like that but I wanted to read some Asimov right away as it has been more than a year since I have indulged).  This is my write up for Libraything:-

"I am a huge fan of Isaac Asimov, and especially of his robots. As I have noticed with some writers of short fiction in this genre, new collections almost always include favorites from previous years, so there will be some repetition (that feeling of deja vu which is hardly ever unwelcome considering the author and the stories and, in my opinion worth a re-read). His short stories often have a punchline which is uniquely typical of Asimov, and very often an amusing one. It does not matter if I have read most of these stories before, they are always a welcome revisit, and still provide for me a fascinating look into a possible future that I find myself wistfully wishing for. ( )"

Adding to all of the robotic fun, is Isaac's remarks before each storiy, which I enjoyed as I have always thought him to be such an intelligent and witty man.
This book is my first entry for January, I have opted instead of reading categories, I will just list what I have read each month, with a few extra places for particular things I would like to do this year, also with very little structure to them, like a list for Doctor Who books, one more for Neil Gaiman because I plan to binge on him this year, and for non-fiction and vegan non-fiction.  I would also like to read more of what I own (dipping into my mystery boxes), and attempting to read what is new this year.  All of which I would like to do instead of having to.  To cap it off, I want to spend more time writing, and perhaps doing things that do not involve books .  That last one I admit, was a hard one to contemplate, but I know it is important to do. 

Travelling....

I have made a point of adding Japanese authors to my reading challenge this year (as well as Scandinavian and European), because I like to travel.  Ever since I was a kid I have always wanted to go somewhere else, particularly to England and Europe, but in my forties I have become interested in the more exotic and strange (to me) countries of Asia.  While the first book I ever read by Ishiguro was based in England (Remains of the Day), I was extremely touched by his talent for involving me in his story and for taking me somewhere and somewhen. 
This book brought me to post-war Japan and it was a real treat.  Japanese life is so different to what I know, and I find it fascinating.  Have you ever had the thought "I wonder what they must have been thinking, did they know what they were doing...did they care?"  Not so much with the Japanese have I thought about it but I have still wondered.  I have read most of what my school library contains on Japan, and there are few mentions of those particular indcidents, but I did want to cry when I read about the Peace Lantern.
While Artist of the Floating World  doesn't go too deeply into the past it is broached in remembrances of the protagonist, so I can see a little the climate of Japan pre World War II.  I can commiserate with him because I see how he must have felt watching his generation receding into history and the new generation is something unfamiliar to him.  Naturally, at that period of time in Japan the changes were almost abrupt because the new generation wanted to distance themselves from the shame of a nation and it was not so organic as the cultural changes of the few generations that I have had the privilege to see in the western world.
There is this quiet flavor to this book, which I have noticed with other books I have read by Japanese authors.  It takes a little getting used to, but I find it restful, even calming.  It feels like a reflection of the culture as a whole, everything is simple, subtle and always beautiful.  I look forward to reading whatever else Ishiguro has written because two books in, he is still taking my breath away.

The Slimyest Slime Some Slime Can Be

Wow!  Did you guess by the title of this blog entry that this is what I was talking about?  I'm sorry if you did, because that would mean that you have read this awful book.  To be clear, the way this book was written is brilliant.  The narrative just flows and actually reminds me of one of my favorite writers George Orwell, who was also quite good in sweeping you along into the story, no matter how awful the subject, so Nabokov was quite successful in doing this.  Despite the nausea and disgust evoked I had to read on to see how it would all end.  That being said, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.  I hated this story, I hated the protagonist, and I hated Lolita (and her mother too!).  What a bunch of awful, selfish, spiteful people.
Maybe that is what is looked at as good essential reading (Lolita is on the 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die list), the author who can get inside a character's head and illustrate in successful fashion the humanity (weak as it is in this instance) of that person, show all of their warts in as ugly a way as possible.  The perverseness of the mother-daughter relationship hit a bit too close to home for me, which disturbed me all the more because Nabokov was so dang accurate, which means he had met or experienced or heard of people like this.
I want to read something else of Nabokov's sometime this year because I like his writing,  so lets hope with a less repulsive subject he is as brilliant as I suspect he is. 

The Vampires of 2012

One of my reading categories this year was vampires.  I am not a huge fan of vampire stories, but there is so much out there now I wanted to get aquainted with what there was (sadly I didn't even get to any of |Anne Rice's works which I have heard are quite good).  I don't seem to have found a lot of great vamp books to read this year, the limit was twelve but there were only three that really stood out for me, the rest (which I won't mention because that would just be mean), were pretty mediocre, predictable, and what I had expected of the new craze/fad for most stories about vampires these days which must include some sex, violence (preferably at the same time) and some gore (perhaps in an attempt to mimic Charlaine Harris or to emulate Stephanie Meyer had she wanted to take things that extra adult step).  Not everything is created equal.

For starters I began this year with Bram Stoker's Dracula.  It was about time.   I have seen the movies  and had been very scared of them when I was a little girl. I loved the movie Van Helsing with all it's steampunk gear and sexy star actor (Wolverine with long hair grroowwl).  I chose it to read after finishing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume 1 by Alan Moore.  Mina Harker was one of his characters and I thought it was time I finally got to the true story because I was pretty uncertain about what happened to Mina in the movies I saw.  Did she divorce her husband like Alan Moore wrote, or did she actually turn into a vampire like in the movie loosely based on Moore's graphic novel (which is a favorite of mine even though Moore has disassociated himself from it).    I honestly had expected it to be a bit dry and possibly boring (old stuff can be that way), and was surprised in a very good way.  I loved the story telling format of letter writing in the first part, the underlying fear and suspense was brilliant and I was very worried for Jonathan Harker's sake.  When we are moved to England and into the second part it does not disappoint, it's full of flowery language on Van Helsing's part ( I thought he was really gabby), and full of action and certainly not dry and boring!  The ending was very satisfying (after all of that suspense). 

My second favorite was unexpected.  Abraham 
Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.   I had been ignoring this book simply
because of it's popularity and because it seems the style in recent years to make these mash-ups and odd pairings.  I don't have anything against them, I'm just a very busy reader and they were low on my list of thing to read.  I'm glad I had a look at this one, it was fabulous.  A nice break break from the stories I had read so far.  I have always had a tremendous respect for Abraham Lincoln, so it just seems to make perfect sense that he would kick ass if he had to fight such an adversary (certain other people from around that time in history made cameos in this story too, I won't say who, they just belonged in the story and added to the historical fiction).

 Some photos that have been making the rounds on the internet have provided me with many moments of laughter, especially this one (if I could have a t-shirt made, I would!)

 Last but not least is The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks (Australian!).  Not your regular run of the mill vampires.  It was another refreshing change, and I got a kick out of imagining this group of vampires out and about in Sydney,  Australia.  I can even picture the television movie they'd make of this book.

On The Home Stretch

2013 signals the end of a fascinating story.  The Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris  is coming to an end at book thirteen.  I have followed this story with interest and the characters are my absolute favorites, I love the main protagonist Sookie Stackhouse.    Usually I don't hold much truck with series (lets face it there are so many out there now and some of them are so long winded that they have lost my interest before completion...Wheel of Time anyone?), and  there are the series that will just not ever end! (I shrink in horror from those).

Sookie Stackhouse's story is a hard one, and I have been impressed (for the most part) with how she has dealt with adversity.  Harris wrote her characters very well, I have a strong sense of what it's like to be a well brought up southern woman, complete with good manners, a strong backbone, and a determination to present a certain front to the rest of the world which has it's own 'old world' kind of charm.  I have always liked a story that has presented a strong southern woman as I admire them immensely (Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe).  I imagine that  Harris has inserted her own personal strength into her female characters, that makes them strong even after suffering as they have (and with a sense of humor too).  After reading all of her other books, and her blog, Harris impresses me with her  strength and intelligence. 

This next year I will be re-reading the whole series as part of my reading challenge for 2013 completeing them all in time for May 5th when the last Sookie Stackhouse story will be published.  I am a little sad to see her go, but at the same time it's a good thing that the story is ending (that line from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes "A lady always knows when to leave..." comes to mind).
I don't know how it will end, every book has been a surprise for me.  Sookie has had a few relationships which have caused her some pain (though she has always become stronger because of it), There's Bill who was her first lover, Sam who is her boss (he's on the list though they have never been together), Eric the Viking Vamp and the weretiger Quinn.   I know what I hope for, and it has actually been biasing what I have read so far this week.  I hope that Sookie will live happily ever after with Sam who can protect her, give her children, and grow old with her.  Not that these are his only good qualities, he has been in love with her for years, has supported her through all of her troubles, and consistently treated her with the greatest respect (and has always spoken his mind if he hasn't liked something she's done), which to me are the ingredients of a good marriage, and with the way that the last book Deadlocked ended, I am optimistic that Sam just might be Sookie's Happily Ever After.  Of course, Harris might have other ideas which is why this series has been so very good from start to almost finished.

I have just finished Dead Until Dark, my introduction to Sookie and her life in Bon Temps.  I have been thoroughly scrutinising every word because I don't plan on reading this series for a good long while and I want to savor every page.   There's interesting little tidbits everywhere which I have forgotten (or perhaps not noticed first time through because I am usually in a rush to find out what's happened), which incidentally support my Sam theories (it has been flavoring my opinions, but don't worry though... I know that Harris could easily go a whole 'nother way).

One influence that I do find rather annoying is the tv show.  I will state right now that I really don't like what they have done in True Blood.  This is not my picture of Sookie's life.   It is overdone, overblown and makes Sookie out to be a bit stupid and crass (which she certainly isn't), and the town of Bon Temps and the characters in it are over the top (waaaay over that top!).  I stopped watching it after the second season, realizing that the focus was on all of the bad stuff and the small stuff (like the sex etc.,).  And some of the characters from the book have had awful treatments and alterations which add an ugly bias of their own and take away from what has always been prevalent in Harris' books which is Sookie's tolerance and acceptance of everybody, no matter what type of person they are, whatever supernatural leaning or level of intelligence. Sadly, I have lost the picture in my mind of what I thought the characters used to look like  and the True Blood actors have imposed themselves in their place.  While I realize that certain story lines are impossible to put to screen, most of these embellishments are not necessary and frankly take away from what is, in my mind, the most important thing in the story, Sookie Stackhouse.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series and will try to contain my excitement until May.  No matter what Harris decides to do in the end, whichever way she decides to go, I know that I am just going to love it!

Once More into the Breach

Wow!  I had not realised how much I had neglected this blog.  All I can say is that it has been a difficult couple of months and I have not felt the urge to share about my reading experiences.  Not that I didn't read... I think the almost complete total for this year (so far) was over 250 books, I still have a few more weeks to go! 
It was a good experience this reading challenge year, and next year's challenge (which I officially started on the 13th) will be quite toothsome.  Thirteen categories, thirteen books in each (some LTer's are quivering in their boots, but I am definitely up for it!), I have also added an extra challenge of thirteen more categories but in a stepped challenge eg., 1 large chunky book, 2, books of poetry, 3 quilting books, 4 plays etc.,  just for fun because I love to have as broad a variety to chose from as possible and it was very satisfying to complete my extra-long challenge this year as I read so many books that I had wanted to without feeling restricted.
2013 will be the year that I finally settle down to read the books that I purchased this last year (I never got around to counting how many!).  I bought up as many books I could get my hands on by Ray Bradbury (there are still some out there  but I will get a hold of them in the summertime), and this coming year's challenge is to read them all and to write about them if I can.  I have to admit that even now, six months after Ray's death, I still feel it keenly.  More on that in my next blog entry.
I have to say, even though I never met the man, he has touched my life in such important and profound ways, and through his books I feel I  know him so well!
To finish, I do plan on writing about some of the books I read this year, one in particular that will be, I promise, full of those colorful metaphors which I wouldn't usually use in polite society (but I just can't help it with this book!).  There's much to do before the year is up so cheers again for today, and be prepared for some prolific activity from me these winter holidays (just one more week to go!).  Happy reading!