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!

Green Shadows, White Whale

This is one that I have never read!  When I was in my twenties and had first discovered Ray (The Martian Chronicles), I kept the local library busy bringing in through inter-library-loan every single book of Ray's that they had.  But this one eluded me, and I was pleasantly surprised to see what it actually was about.  I had always thought that since he had written the script for the movie with Gregory Peck in it, that it was a novelisation of the movie and since I had read the original by Herman Melville,  I really did not need to read what he had done. 

What it really was about was Ray's slightly embellished experiences of Ireland while he was writing the screenplay for the book. From the very first page I was enthralled with what he felt and saw and heard.  I liked how he wrote about the director John Huston, and I loved how in one chapter he described a stale wedding cake (the wedding had been post-phoned a week) to Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.  I loved it so much I laughed a great deal and quite hard, which is a switch from my usual experience with  a Bradbury collection.  Usually, when I read a story by Ray it is a very intense feeling, my heart swells, I am awestruck, reality shifts and I am taken to a surreal plain where only Ray can take me.  I'm not kidding... it's really like that!  That's why he's the king of the short story, why he will live forever, because I have yet to find anything by anyone that has ever transported me like this. 
 I think after my earlier response to The Dinosaur Tales, Green Shadows, White Whale  was like a balm for my grief, and I feel strengthened by it to carry on reading through the rest of his books next year.

Dinosaur Tales

I spent a couple of months after  Ray's death buying up whatever books I didn't own of his (it was a job I had often thought of doing but always put off because it would be such a huge undertaking!).  After he died it became urgent for me to get them all before they would disappear too.  Of course, I was never disillusioned into thinking he would live forever... I knew he was very old, and it was such a gift to me whenever I discovered a new collection of his stories in the library, but that doesn't make it easier when they do go.  This is a personal hurt for me, because through his books I felt that I knew him, and there was such a deep sense of loss when he died.  
I haven't, except for The Halloween Tree and The October Country,  read any of his work for quite some time, so this little book, with its illustrations and poetry was a new experience.   I learned something new about Ray which was that he was friends with Ray Harryhausen, and that he was a lover of dinosaurs (which, of course, makes perfect sense knowing what I do know about Ray).  So this collection was a nice way to begin a year long challenge of reading those books of his  that I bought this year.  At the end I have to say that it was tough.  Usually at the end of a story or a collection of his stories I have this feeling that I have been touched by greatness, I can't believe where he has taken me and every experience is different.  This time it was bittersweet for me.  While he has physically left us he will never really leave, because his stories will live forever.  I can keep him alive as long as I am living simply by just reading something of his.  He isn't really gone, he didn't disappear, he's still here with me, every time I open one of his books.

Among Others

Just finished this gem of a novel this morning!  It has several things about it that appeal to me and they are this; 1. It is written in the form of a diary.
2. The protagonist talks a lot about what she reads (which is mainly science fiction, and because she was excused from doing three hours daily of exercise at her boarding school,  she read a great deal!). 3. It is what it is.  What I mean by that last part is that there isn't, like current popular fiction, a nasty twist at the end.  I seriously was waiting for the other shoe to drop because this story reminded me very strongly of the feel of The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks which had a seriously wicked, twisted ending, so when I was just ten pages from the end I was almost shaking in my boots wondering how this story would end, and then it did end!  The world did not drop out from underneath me, I was pleasantly surprised and I loved it!  What a mindfully suspenseful non-twisty tale.  Of course, I will be seeking out the rest of her books, once I have read all of the ones that were mentioned in this book (which I have not already read).   Jo must have made an extensive  study of the craft,  the knowledge is all there (which I can attest to having read a great deal of the books that were mentioned), I got the references.  If you are a sci-fi book-geek, this is a perfect book for you!    It won both the Nebula and the Hugo Awards.

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!

All the Pleasures of Time and Leisure

Since owning my own laptop I have been introduced to the joys of electronic books, and since I also have a huge selection of music on there as well I have been combining the two for a couple of years now.    It just makes more sense (to me) to combine the two (because there just isn't enough time in a day to do either separately)  though I know that most people do not like to do this claiming that the music or the reading would be too distracting of the other.    I beg to differ.    Admittedly, before I even considered doing such things, there was always music in my head... like my life has it's own soundtrack, wherever I go and whatever I do, if it's just walking early in the morning and watching the sun come up, driving along the highway to and from Terrace (a very beautiful drive any time of the year), working, cleaning, quilting, writing.  It's never really quiet in my head, so I've never had any problems incorporating the two.

Before I even had my laptop I noticed the enhancement of my pleasure  of listening while reading,  my first experience being some Heinlein juveniles, whilst listening to the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot.   The Rolling Stones were never so good as when I was listening over and over again to Aproaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon.  
I strongly recommend reading some thrilling space opera to the music of The Flaming Lips as their genre, while being stated as alternative is really space music of the finest calibre.


Next to make a great impression was a selection of space music from Hearts of Space, a radio program out of Berkeley, California featuring the best of electronic and classical music with a spacey theme.  One such piece resonated with me while reading book two of Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet (a truly sad story of love and pain in Mormon America).  Adagio to Silence  was so invocative, I could not help but be overwhelmed with sorrow and compassion for the protagonists of this side story with a perfect selection of Mahler, Kitaro, Messiaen, Landowski, Stearns and Tempel.    Have a look at their website... there is lots there to enjoy.  Hearts of Space

 The pairing of Tanya Huff's Blood Books with the last two albums by U.N.K.L.E Where Did the Night Fall and Another Night Out.   A terrific co-operation of Sleepy Sun, Katrina Ford, Gavin Smith, The Black Angels,  Autolux, Gavin Clark and the awesomeness of U.N.K.L.E.    Perfection!


Another  truly significant  and well mated couple is The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov joined with Dmitri Shostakovich's neo-classical string quartets.    I don't think I could ever separate the two now from each other, both being so integral to the power of the story each tell.
Master is a very creepy,  sinister book with a fascinating story within a story within yet another story.   I stongly recommend using this combination of music to story.












This year's serendiptious pairing was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick being well met with the French electronica band Air's soundtrack  to the Georges Méliès film  Le Voyage Dans Le Lune (the album having the same name).

 As you can see there are quite a lot of choices out there for this kind of reading, and I promise to share some of those perfect combinations that I manage to stumble upon while working through my collections of books and music.  Of course, in the future we will have holographic novels which will have all the senses engaged whilst reading/watching  the story... so this concept really isn't that far off eh?

Fahrenheit 451

It has been a pleasure for me this week to re-visit an old favorite by Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451.   It was originally one of those books that scared the living daylights out of me, and firmly entrenched a dedication to the act of reading (and buying books...lots of books 'cos I want to save 'em all!).   

When I was a young girl, high on the joy of reading, I was negatively teased about it by my family.  Though I can't remember far enough back to say with absolute certainty when I first began to read, I can clearly remember the excitement of understanding letters, and being able to string them into words that meant something (the A-ha! moment).  I can also remember the hunger to read more, to read them all, and to never stop reading, ever.  It wasn't an easy thing to do.  It is a difficult concept for me to accept (and believe me today I am still mystified that there can still be such a thing), but there are households out there  in the world that do not read, and mine was one of them.  My mother wanted me to be a secretary or a nurse until I got married.  She wanted me to take Physical Education and Cooking at school, all good subjects to take to support what her expectations of me were (which was to be like herself, or what she had always wanted to be), and having my head in a book did not agree with her image of what I should be. The sad thing is, my mother never had the opportunities that I had, she didn't even finish grade school (my memory is fuzzy on just how much schooling she actually recieved), so she was never able to appreciate the joys of a good book (I don't remember her actually having a book in her hand ever). It took a long time for me to understand that and it wasn't until I was an adult and far removed from my mother that I realized  her ignorance and jealousy was what had fueled her contempt for me and my puzzling interests.  I had this fantasy when I was a teenager about the kind of home I would have when I grew up, and the most noticeable feature was the wall to wall library in every room (plus the really bitchin' stereo and music room!).

When I had my own family, I made sure from the very beginning, that books would be a part of their lives.  All of my children were read to from an early age ( I remember reading to 20-month-old DS1 while cradling 3-week-old DS2 in my lap).  Books were important... perhaps because they were such an issue when I was young.  I have always had that contrary streak that makes me want to do even more the things that other people tell me I cannot do! (Just watch me during Banned Books Week!)  So books have been a major part of my adulthood my children love to read (plus they have always had the freedom to do as they wished in their life and career choices with support from myself and my husband).
So you may understand why Fahrenheit 451 was such a devastating book to read for me as I could understand and sympathise with all of the people who were punished, arrested and forced to watch as their books were burnt in front of them.  No-one should be able to tell you what you can and cannot do, and free thinking of any sort, is a right for every person.  This is why I will always fight against censorship, why I have the best job in the world (in a library), and why I am constantly reading.  Books are life.  Freedom of thought,  full of knowledge, dreams and imagination, books are anything and everything to me.

                               "Through my love of words and my love of ideas and metaphors, I can convince you of the most unlikely things.  That's what a magician does.  He can make an elephant disappear on stage.  I can make an entire world disappear or appear in a story.  Or I can make dinosaurs fall in love with lighthouses.  It's magic!"
                                                                           Ray Bradbury

If you have never read Fahrenheit 451, I recommend that you try to get a hold of the 50th Anniversary Edition, as it has a coda  which was really quite profound and very classic Bradbury waxing poetic about something he is passionate about (censorship!).  And if that is not enough (and I don't see how it could be!) have a look at BRADBURY SPEAKS: Too Soon From The Cave, Too Far From The Stars Essays on the Past, the Future, and Everything in Between.   In that book is a very clear and poignant insight in to the genius  that was Ray Bradbury.