73% geek, the rest is girly-bits

Shardik
by Richard Adams

I first read Richard Adams’ novel Maia at twelve, and instantly fell in love with the Beklan Empire. Reread multiple times during my youth, I was crushed when my copy went missing and I searched for a replacement for years. I was overjoyed when I finally found a battered second-hand copy last year, but the cherry on top was finding a copy of Shardik a couple of weeks later. Maia was published ten years after Shardik, but is a prequel of sorts as it is set before the events described in Shardik.

Shardik is fantasy novel about a simple hunter who one day encounters a giant bear. After that first chance meeting, Kelderek’s fate becomes inextricably entwined with that of Shardik the Bear, the physical embodiment of the Power of God as worshipped by an Ortelgan cult. Adams never explicitly reveals whether or not Shardik is the actual embodiment of divinity. The characters themselves have differing opinions on whether Shardik is a divine creature or merely a savage animal. And there is no lack of savagery. Shardik kills many during the course of the story, if not indiscriminately then at least whimsically on more than one occasion, and being his worshipper in no way guarantees safety.

Although the story is basically about a man hunting a big bear, it’s also about worship, slavery, pride, humility, savagery, betrayal, forgiveness and contentment. It’s meandering and at times overflowing with flowery passages, particularly ones describing emotions, but it works. Although I prefer Maia the two novels complement one another, and I really enjoyed seeing the Beklan Empire from another point of view.

Dragons of the Highlord Skies
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Dragons of the Highlord Skies details Kitiara Uth Matar’s rise within the ranks of the Dragon Army, and Laurana’s struggle to accept the loss of Tanis whilst helping a trio of Solamnic Knights search for a second Dragon Orb.

As mentioned previously, I was a little disappointed after finishing the first book of the Chronicles, Dragons Of The Dwarven Depths. The characters felt a little “off”. While Dragons of the Highlord Skies did a better job of recapturing the personalities of beloved characters, I felt Weis and Hickman spent a little too much time on characters introduced in this novel whereas I would have preferred to see more depth imparted to the relationships we already care about thanks to the original trilogy. Considering what happens in Dragons of Winter Night, I would have loved more interaction between Laurana and Sturm.

Though I didn’t enjoy Dragons of the Highlord Skies as much as the original novels, it’s a pretty satisfying read, and I enjoyed learning more about what Kitiara was up to whilst the Companions were traipsing around Krynn in the Chronicles. However, I’ll freely admit to being sorely disappointed by the much anticipated meeting of Kitiara and Lord Soth. Instead of spending chapters detailing Kitara’s journey to Dargaard Keep, I’d have preferred reading about the meeting itself, rather that being fobbed off with what felt like a summary.

Notwithstanding the Kitiara/Lord Soth letdown, I am really looking forward to Dragons of the Hourglass Mage as Weis and Hickman seem to be getting back into their groove, and Raistlin always was one of my favourite characters.

Dragons Of The Dwarven Depths
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

As a teen, I spent countless hours devouring the various Dragonlance novels, and the first novel in the series, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, was directly responsible for my initiation into role-playing games. I spent many hours as a DM for years to come because of that one novel. Ah good times…

During the 90s an endless barrage of novels were pumped out of first TSR, later WOTC under the Dragonlance banner. Some were atrocious, some meh, and some really good. I guess I was, and still am, a purist at heart, preferring the “core” novels, i.e. the Chronicles, Legends and Tales I and II trilogies. So you can imagine my glee when I very recently discovered that Weis and Hickman were more than halfway through writing a series of books called the Lost Chronicles. A trilogy set during the original Chronicles, embellishing some of the more minor events that were glossed over in the original novels.

Unfortunately I was a little disappointed after finishing the first book in the series, Dragons Of The Dwarven Depths. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed learning more about the events that took place with details we weren’t privy to in previous novels, but… It wasn’t the same as reading the Chronicles the first time. I don’t know whether that’s because Weis’s and Hickman’s style is actually different in this book or simply that I am a lot older now and perhaps my tastes have changed. It just felt a little bloodless. The characters I know and love were there, but seemed like pale shadows of the personalities I remember from years ago.

That being said, I finished Dragons of The Dwarven Depths, am a quarter of the way through Dragons of the Highlord Skies and will undoubtedly be reading Dragons of the Hourglass Mage when it’s published. So it would seem I’m still a Dragonlance fangirl…

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt

I took note of Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil when it was first published and storming up the best-seller lists, then once again when it was filmed, but until I found a beat-up copy in a thrift store I never bothered reading it. My mistake.

Not only is it well-written and extremely readable, it has such a fictional feel, I actually didn’t realise it was based on a true story until the very end. Only the lack of a “tidy” denouement gave it away. Although the plot is interesting and the characters are intriguing, it’s very obvious who the star of the novel is. The entire book reads like a love-letter to Savannah, and the plot itself became almost secondary to the exploration of the city and it’s inhabitants.

I really enjoyed Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, and Berendt’s style so I’ll definitely be reading The City of Falling Angels when I get through my current to-read pile (which is still taller than me).

Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Year Disguised as a Man
by Norah Vincent

I first heard about Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Year Disguised as a Man by Norah Vincent via the xckd blag, and finding the concept intriguing I had to pick up a copy when I saw it available at CyberRead.

Norah Vincent decides to live as a man for more than a year. As Ned, she partakes in various male experiences like bonding with a bowling team, visiting strip clubs, going on dates, joining a men’s group, taking a sales job in a Glengarry Glen Ross-esque environment, and even joins a monastery for several weeks.

The book is a well-written and extremely engrossing account of her search for what it means to be a man. Though I don’t think Vincent could in any way truly become a man, I do think certain gender differences became more acutely visible to her, precisely because she isn’t male. A man couldn’t write Self-Made Man any more than a woman could write a book called Self-Made Woman.

Something that struck me about the book is how very brave Vincent was to do some of the things she did. She put herself in a wide variety of situations where she was completely out of her depth and which could have turned ugly fast had she been unlucky. Not only did she have the guts to get into those situations, and the skill to navigate them successfully, she also has the ability of eloquently describing how she felt at the time.

After reading Self-Made Man I realised just how tough life can be when you’re male, and was left with a profound sense of empathy towards men. If you are at all interested in how men and women think and interact with each other I suggest reading Self-Made Man, hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. I just wish Norah Vincent had more/better pictures of Ned available on her website. After reading so much about him I would have appreciated seeing him properly.

Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel García Márquez

Love In The Time Of Cholera is about death, life, love, lust, desire, obsession and ageing. It’s a complex novel inhabited by characters whose actions range from the mundane to the reprehensible. I found the rapes and paedophilia (a nod to Nabokov?), particularly in the cavalier manner in which they are presented, distasteful; but repellent and/or uncomfortable themes do not equate to a story being bad or poorly written. In regard to the writing, I wonder if the novel suffers a little in the translation to English. There were many run-on sentences which I sometimes found hard to process, and needed to reread in order to understand.

I found it hard to care about any of the characters, none of them seemed very likeable. Florentino Ariza is portrayed as amoral and obsessive, constantly mistaking his own desires for love all the while clinging to the illusion that Fermina loves him. Fermina Daza seems obstinate and vengeful, comfortable to accept the circumstances of her loveless yet stable marriage to Juvenal Urbino. Juvenal himself comes across as a mere footnote in the intertwining lives of Fermina and Florentino.

However I did like how García Márquez treats love as a battlefield/playground for all, no matter their age. Love, particularly desire and sexual love is arguably still considered to belong to the young, as something to be left behind when we age. The exploration of love and sex between ageing minds and bodies was refreshing and charming.

Ultimately, I’m not quite sure what to think about Love In The Time Of Cholera. It didn’t make me want to run out and read another Gabriel García Márquez novel, and I certainly won’t reread Love In The Time Of Cholera, but I can’t say I disliked it either. Also, what was up with all the enemas?

Watchmen
by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

I just finished reading Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons last night. Yes, yes, I know. I should have read it earlier, and I really have no excuse but somehow it managed to slip by me in the nineties. I’ve always meant to read it, so in preparation I spent the last decade and a half strenuously avoiding any mention of Watchmen. Particularly the last year has been hard for me, what with the film being hyped all over the place.

In effect, I was a Watchman virgin when I started it a couple of nights ago, and I now that I’ve read it, I get it. I understand why people get all excited about it. It truly is a graphic Novel, complex and multi-layered. The plot itself had a few points which were a little too transparent for my tastes, but the plot isn’t really the point. To me it was more of a vehicle for telling the story of these diverse characters and the dystopian world they inhabit. A story which is told in an exceptionally satisfying manner.

However, something which confused me was the interwoven story of Marooned from the Tales of the Black Freighter comic. I have read it before. How this can be escapes me. I know I haven’t read Watchmen before, so where does my more than passing familiarity with Marooned come from? I know Wikipedia lists Moore’s alluding to Seeräuberjenny from Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, but I haven’t seen, read or heard anything to with that before. Has it been released as it’s own comic? Did someone lift the story and do something else with it? Where does it come from!?

As Watchmen is so complex I’m going to be buying my own copy (thanks for the loan TM!) so I can re-read it at leisure. The next times I read it however, I’m going to be pairing it with stuff like The Annotated Watchmen whilst I look forward to the film which will (hopefully) be released soon.

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages
by Ammon Shea

Once in a while there comes a book that seems to have been written about you. It speaks to you, it describes you, it knows you. For me, Reading the OED is that book.

Yes, I am one of “them”. A word-nerd. One of those odd people who enjoy reading dictionaries. I’ve done it since I was a child, and I still take immense pleasure in it today. Knowing that there are others not only like me, but admittedly even battier about dictionaries than I am was a pleasant revelation.

Reading the OED is well-written, entertaining, informative, and utterly  delightful. My only gripe is that the book is too short. Guess this will be the final prod I need to actually go out and buy the 20 volume set of the OED I’ve been coveting for years…