The Life of the World to Come, by Kage Baker

Erg. Excuse the funky cover–in fact, excuse the funky covers that the current printing of all the books in the Company series seem to have. They make me think of Reboot, but not in a fun, nostalgic way.

They look so generic and goofy–the covers, not the Reboot characters–and don’t match the fun, exciting, clever books inside them, more’s the pity, because more people (way more people) should be reading and loving Kage Baker.

I’m departing from the new format I’ve adopted from Jessica, mostly because this is the fifth book in a series and I want to avoid spoilers that come with all the published summaries. Normally I’m not the spoilers-avoiding type, but I want so badly to get someone, at least one person into this series so that we can talk about it! And if that means avoiding spoilers, then, by gum, I’ll do it.

Most of The Life of the World to Come follows a new character, Alec Checkerfield, Seventh Earl of Finsbury, who lives in the 24th Century and who is destined to meet Botanist Mendoza, our sometimes-narrator and heroine previously in the series, for reasons that become clear later on in the novel. There’s pirating, time travel, genetic engineering, and the impending Silence, when Dr. Zeus–the titular Company with the power to convey immortality upon certain mortals and send them back to the past–no longer knows what is to come. As Alec grows up, an idealistic young man with a love of old-fashioned pirates and the sea, he realizes that there’s something strange about himself, and when he comes to find out the truth of his origins, he decides that he’s going to do anything it takes to bring the Company down.

I have to hand it to the late, amazing Kage Baker: she knows how to hook you in. Woof. The Life of the World to Come answers a few questions from the previous novels, but creates a few more, and it’s only the fact that the library is closed that I’m not immediately bolting out the door to go check out The Children of the Company and marathon-read it to find out WHAT HAPPENS. It’s not just the story, although I will give the story its due; Kage Baker planted the seeds for some of the crazy stuff happening now early on, and as everything is starting to untangle and become clear, I’m left about as eloquent as Keanu Reeves. Yeah, whoa.

After five novels and one short story collection, I’m seriously devoted to the characters, even Alec, our new man on the scene. I did want to punch him occasionally, especially for underestimating Mendoza, but that’s fine! (Side note: I cannot help but envision Alec–at least, grown-up Alec–as played by one Benedict Cumberbatch:

Benedict Cumberbatch with his natural lighter hair, anyway. He’s got the eyes and the cheekbones and everything!) The point is, the characters are funny and complex and imperfect and real and human–even the non-human ones. Some old characters come back on the scene towards the end (although I’m still left wondering if we’ll see Lewis again, my lovely bookish Lewis). Kage Baker writes such thoughtful, interesting science-fiction, and I’m glad I still have four or five novels and a short story collection to go, because I’ll be sad to see the series off, as much as I want to rip through it at the expense of sleep and work.

Plus, there are little unexpected bits where it’s just so funny:

Christmas was a very popular month, in the year 2350. (p. 181)

Come on. Tell me that’s not funny. Tell me that Christmas as a month isn’t funny. (Funny slash scary slash practically true anyway.) The books are witty and clever and also sometimes rip your heart out of your chest, but in a way that doesn’t give you total whiplash from the humor of things.

Most of this may sound like gibberish to those of you who haven’t read the series, but that’s what I’m saying! Go! Go get them! Start with In the Garden of Iden! Right now, people! I’ll wait. Then come back here and we’ll have a little chat. And you can back me up on the Cumberbatch thing.

Ella Enchanted

I try to be a positive person. There are, of course, things that annoy me, but I try to find the positive in all things and at least, I temper my negative feedback with positive. And if I must complain, I try to be critical and analytical as opposed to mean. “That sucks” is not a helpful remark either to the creator or the person who might want to consume whatever it is that sucks.

I really do try.

Ella Enchanted sucks. I’m talking about the movie, obviously, because the book is beautiful and perfect, as anybody who’s read it knows. Ella is strong and determined, the world-building is lovely, and it’s a story about being yourself. Even more importantly, it’s about your own part in creating your identity. Your “self” isn’t some commandment set in stone, it changes as you change and you aren’t a helpless repository for that change. You can actively create it! *

Now, I saw the movie before the book. I thought it was a cute, but ultimately unimportant**, movie. Most movie adaptations stick fairly close to books, at least in plot, so I didn’t really care to read it. And then I heard my friends talk about how awful the movie was and how utterly unlike the book it was. So I read the book. And was wowed! And shocked! HOW DID THEY MAKE SUCH A HORRIBLE ADAPTATION OF SUCH A LOVELY AND IMPORTANT*** BOOK! HOW. HOW. HOW. Not even how, but why. They took this gorgeous story about a girl fighting for herself, literally, and made it into a stupid political god I don’t even remember because I’ve blocked it out.

Worst adaptation I had ever seen. Until I watched The Little Prince.

*Plus, Ella + Char = 4eva!!!!!1!!
**That is, unimportant to my psyche. Very few movies are “important” in the larger sense, but as I am a very self-involved creature, I care more about things that are important to me.
***Again, I mean important to me.

(This post was inspired by Meagan’s non-negative post over here. I might talk about movie adaptations of books later, because I think it’s an interesting subject, but I had to complain publicly about this travesty first.)

On Jane Austen

Justine Larbalastier reread Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. She’s super smart, so go read her posts!

Like Larba (ooo, bad nickname), Persuasion is my favorite Austen. The passion, man, the passion. It’s gorgeous. And the older, more mature characters. Larba describes the main character perfectly: “if I ever write a romantic heroine as strong and principled and honourable yet not boring or annoying as Anne Elliot then I will die a very happy writer.” AUGH! I am not capable of talking about this book intelligently, because it is amazing. And I haven’t read it in a long time.

I do have a soft spot for Northanger Abbey, but I can’t argue with Larba’s point that the romantic pairing is pretty unequal, as much of it as I remember, anyway. Of course, that says something about our culture that we prize the virtues of Mr. Tilney more than we prize what we see as the non-virtues of Catherine. Normally I’m the one arguing against purity, innocence, and naivety as ideals for young women, but I think that it’s maybe a bit extreme to say that she has nothing to teach Mr. Tilney. But I haven’t read this one in a long while either, and unlike Persuasion, I’ve only read it once.

A quick recap on the others: P&P probably clocks in in second place (what is with the cultural obsession to rate things? bizarre, I tell you) and, it being the most well known Austen, I don’t think I have to say anything about why it’s amazing. NA probably comes in third, because while the romantic pairing is unequal, it is laugh-out-loud funny, Mr. Tilney is amazing (he’s my second favorite hero after Captain Wentworth from Persuasion), and it is a rather wonderful parody/response to the Gothic romance novels of the day. Emma in fourth, because I am squicked by the romance (I fell for it while I was reading it, but then squicked out again as soon as I set it down) and because I think here the unequal pairing bothers me more than in NA (possibly because I have read it more recently). Mr. Tilney is amused by Catherine, but Mr. Knightley acts like Emma’s father which is far more disturbing to me. MP in fifth, because I cannot stand Fanny or Edmund. And I have never read Sense and Sensibility. I should get on that. *runs off to Daily Lit*

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Apparently finals + being home = barely any reading and certainly no blogging.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a beautiful book. No words, just gorgeous illustrations. Our culture prizes words and we read all the time – signs, the front pages of magazines in line at the grocery store, etc. When we see a word, we read it automatically, without thought. In a book full of pictures, it is too easy to rush, to glean the action and miss the beauty. I continually had to force myself to reread pages, to slow down and appreciate the details. But oh, how it was worth it!

If you want a glimpse of Tan’s work, why don’t you saunter along to the Guardian, for whom he told a story about Eric, a foreign exchange student.

Update!

I’ve added a couple of books to my “favorites” list. In case you are that lazy and don’t want to click on through, here’s what I added:

19. Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman – This is a beautiful little book about dreams and time and people (as a whole, not as individuals). There is a sense of fairy tale in each dreaming, where the people of this other world are strange but familiar, where life is lovely and cruel, and where the flow of time might not be a flow at all, but a waterfall or a block of ice or flames.

20. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino – In some ways this is a similar book to Einstein’s Dreams, but where Lightman explores time, Calvino explores landscape. Both books take my breath away with the beauty of their prose and the depth of their imagination. They both make me wish our world was a little less uniform, with more pockets of utterly delightful weirdness.

Favorite Things 2

I'm as happy as this lady.

This is the second part in my series of posts in which I list my favorite book-related things.  These posts are ways for whoever reads this to get acquainted with my reading tastes, as it is a new blog, and will be updated and linked to if I deem appropriate. Today seems like a good day to talk about…

The Authors I Love

One thing I find interesting about this list is that it doesn’t directly correlate with my favorite novels list.  That’s because my favorite novels, with a couple of exceptions, are books I have read more than once and generally have a sentimental attachment to.  This list is full of people who have written stunning books… and I have (generally) read more than one of their books.

1.  Octavia Butler – I had an auspicious beginning with Butler.  When I was thirteen, I read Kindred.  I soooo wasn’t ready for that book.  But as the years went on, I read more and more of her books and she is now an author I would pick up no matter what.  Sad that I discovered that only a couple of years before her death.

2.  Peter Beagle – I have actually only read one of his novels (more soon, hopefully!), but in addition to The Last Unicorn, I have read many of his short stories.  Plenty enough to make him eligible for this list.  Like I said when I was waxing over TLU, this man is a god of prose, among other things.

3.  Neil Gaiman

4.  Guy Gavriel Kay – Kay has a combination of a deep understanding of mythology, an inate talent for writing compelling characters (and even more so, writing compelling and real relationships between those characters) , and gorgeous prose that knocks my socks off.  While reading the Fionavar Tapestry,  I would literally have to put down the book sometimes to process, take deep breaths, etc.  Some people might hate that, but I love it!

5. J.R.R. Tolkien

6.  J.K. Rowling – I love the Harry Potter series and JKR for many reasons, but one of my favorites is that we really got to see her grow as an author.  Harry Potter grew up with me and he grew up with her, as well.  Tickles me pink to no end!

7.  Jane Austen

8.  Louis Sachar – For Wayside School and Holes.

9.  Robin McKinley

10.  Margaret Atwood

11.  Lois Lowry

12.  William Shakespeare

13.  Roald Dahl

14.  Ursula Le Guin – Le Guin is partially on this list because of her fantastic adult fiction, but mostly is here for Catwings.

15.  Jhumpa Lahiri

Who are some of your favorite authors?

(Also, I’ve been linking to Amazon. Is this good or bad? If it’s bad, where should I link to? Powell’s? Goodreads? Another site? Feedback would be appreciated!)

Other posts in this series: Favorite Novels

I Simply Remember My Favorite Things!

No, no, don’t run away! I have a good singing voice, I swear!*

This is the first in a short series of posts that will have my favorite things relating to books.  All of these posts will be updated and linked to whenever I feel like it. What’s up for today? Why, my favorite novels of all time, OF COURSE!

In no particular order:

1. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle – Delicious prose, self-aware characters, anachronisms galore…  This book has it all!  I loved the animated cartoon when I was a wee child and when I learned, in high school, that there was a book, I bought it immediately and fell in love all over again.  I am a sucker for breathtaking prose and, boy, is Beagle ever the author for that.  Just listen to this opening (which I have memorized): “The unicorn lived in a lilac wood and she lived all alone.  She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night.  But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.”  *sighs the happy sigh of utterly beautiful prose* Uh, okay, sorry.  I have more to say about this stunning book, but honestly, just go do yourself a favor and read it!

2. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – A young boy, a terrible war, a frightening gift… Don’t you think I should write cover copy? In all seriousness, this is a classic YA (but with plenty of crossover to adult) science fiction novel, and it’s a classic for very good reason.

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3. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card – The sequel to Ender’s Game.  It’s rare that a sequel will get on this list, and even rarer that it will get a separate spot (normally I would just include it with the first), but Speaker for the Dead is such a different book that I wanted to give it it’s own place.

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4. Sabriel (and the rest of the Abhorsen trilogy) by Garth Nix – A fantasy world that feels real, a new take on necromancy, a female heroine written by a male.  It can’t be so!  Sabriel is, like so much YA, about finding yourself and growing up, but it comes with wonderful plotting, snarky characters, and as I mentioned before, great world-building.

5. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay – It took me a long time to read this book, but it was worth it.  Kay, like Beagle, is a master of words (see also his Fionavar triology).  While I wasn’t a fan of a couple of the younger characters, the older ones and their relationships with each other are magnificently done.  Every other element of good novels (plot, world-building, excellent writing, etc) are without reproach.

6. Persuasion by Jane Austen

7. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

8. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein – The only Heinlein book I’ve read (I can never get past the first couple of chapters of Stranger in a Strange Land), but it made a fairly profound impact on me.  It is one of the few novels on this list that I’ve only read once.

9. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling – I got to grow up with Harry Potter and let me tell you, I feel blessed that I did.

10. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – I need to reread this (again). So, so intricate and lovely. I read Love in the Time of Cholera last year, but it, for me, pales in comparison to this masterpiece.

11.  A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – What an amazing author. I have only read this and the Blind Assassin by her and both were wonderful.

12.  The Astonishing Tale of Octavian Nothing (Parts I and II) by M.T. Anderson

13.  Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and

14.  The Giver by Lois Lowry – Some books need to be read at a certain time in your life to have their fullest impact.  The Giver may be one of those books, based on my own and my brother’s experiences.  This book may have changed my life.  My brother has it as three stars on Goodreads.

15.  Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

16.  Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – Without a doubt, the funniest book I have ever read. I mean, really. This is one of my most reread books. In fact, I should go track down my (extremely beat up) copy.

17.  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

18.  From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

19. Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman – This is a beautiful little book about dreams and time and people (as a whole, not as individuals). There is a sense of fairy tale in each dreaming, where the people of this other world are strange but familiar, where life is lovely and cruel, and where the flow of time might not be a flow at all, but a waterfall or a block of ice or flames.

20. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino – In some ways this is a similar book to Einstein’s Dreams, but where Lightman explores time, Calvino explores landscape. Both books take my breath away with the beauty of their prose and the depth of their imagination. They both make me wish our world was a little less uniform, with more pockets of utterly delightful weirdness.

What are some of your favorite books?

Other posts in this series: Favorite Authors