Northern Book Review

What to Read and Why, Part 1

Looking at the list of books I posted in my book list post I realized that I have many different reasons for reading.

In the digital, TV-video-DVD age, it seems like fewer people read books. I don't know if this is true, but it sure seems that way. I know more than one person who will go see the Harry Potter movies but won't read the books. "I'm in and out in two hours with the movie, why bother with the book?" they say.

For heaven sakes, because with a book you have the most complete movie you could ever have, right there in your head. Am I one of the few left with a vivid imagination? When I read the rest of the world doesn't exist, and that is one reason I read. But to substitute a movie for a book and claim that they are the same is like saying that diet soda and sugar soda taste the same!

A movie can't give you every moment that a book can. Even more so with long books like the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. A book is an internal, personal experience. Movies are generally viewed with crowds, and a movie can seem either better or worse depending on how all those other people are responding to it. When you relegate a movie like Lord of the Rings, a movie that absolutely must be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated (another movie that comes to mind in that sense is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) to a television, you lose even more than just storyline, or personal moments of the protagonist that are in the book but cut from the movie. You lose a large part of what the movie has going for it, the huge canvas on which it is painted, a canvas that is calculated to inspire awe, terror, overwhelming beauty or spectacle. But the moments you lose in converting a book to a movie are sometimes not things in the book itself, but moments, hours, sometimes days and nights where something in the book turns a key inside you and opens a door. There is an interaction that I have with books that is very personal. The struggles of Bilbo as he staggers toward Mordor color my life when I'm reading The Return of the King. While reading East of Eden I had to put the book down repeatedly and calm myself, even go for a walk. You can't go for a walk when watching a movie in a theater.

Sometimes I'm very annoyed after seeing a movie. For instance, the character Hermione, in the Harry Potter books, is annoyingly over-acted by the actress in the movie. And yet now when I read the book, my own personal Hermione has been replaced by that girl. Sometimes I put the book down and try to erase the movie Hermione and get my own Hermione back, but so far I haven't been successful. It's like Mr. Whipple and Charmin. The ad-men did a good job on those commercials, because the set out to annoy us into remembering both Mr. Whipple and Charmin, and it worked. Hermione won't go away any more than Mr. Whipple will, damn it.

The question is, though, why do I read Harry Potter in the first place? At first I decided to read those books because I wanted to know what the kids I teach were reading. But the first book was so much fun that it was easy to continue reading them. It grows on you. At first the world Rowling creates seems contrived and alien, but either I'm getting used to it or she's getting better at it, or both. Now I don't care who is reading Harry Potter. I read those books because they are simply good fun.

For fun I read "easy" books: Harry Potter, the Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich, comic books (if I can get a few in a run), re-read Forrest Gump, the original book by Winston Groom (which I read years before the movie was a gleam in anyone's eye), and other books that aren't too dark.

To be continued....

What to Read and Why, Part 2

The latest armloads of books brought home from the library have been on Celtic myth and lore, first-person accounts of Native American medicine men, and mysteries.

The reason I read, more than any other, is because I want to know. What is the nature of things? How are we all connected? What is my place in the Universe? Why am I alive now? What has it been like for other people, what have their journeys been like and what did they find out? What clues can I find?

Sometimes I choose books by pure intuition. I love to browse the bookshelves just waiting for something to jump out at me. I have found some of the best books that way.

Other times I look for a particular author and then decide that I'm going to investigate whatever happens to be here under, say the "E"s in fiction.

Sometimes I make use of the card catalogue (which is now actually a computer) and try to find books that relate to keywords (such as "Scottish" and "Folklore"). Then I make a list and go out on safari and find them, picking up likely books adjacent as I go.

I'm currently reading a slew of books by Liz Evans, an English author who writes mysteries starring a spunky woman detective. The character is quite well done, she's human, she has her faults, she has her doubts, quirks, and failings. But she's also quite fearless, especially by American standards. She doesn't carry a gun, for one thing. She goes out jogging just any old time, unafraid. She cares very little what she looks like and so far, after three books, she still has only three outfits!

This character's name is Grace Smith, and I am inspired by her to be less fearful and to seize the day. Even though I read these books mainly for entertainment, I am learning something important from them.

You just never know where you will find the Clues to the Mystery of Life.

Native American medicine men are supposed to have the answers, so it isn't a surprise when I learn something from those kinds of books. Myths and folklore are chock-full of veiled explanations of the Universe.

But don't overlook the mystery set. You never know.

Solaris: The Book, The Movies

Long ago, in 1973, when I was in college, I saw a movie made in Russia. It was called Solaris. When I was young, my ability to suspend disbelief was childlike and intense. Solaris touched me deeply. It is the story of a man who journeys to a space station that is orbiting around a sentient planet. There is no population of intelligent beings on this planet, but it is an entire intelligence of its own. The name of the planet is Solaris. It is covered by a "colloidal ocean." Solaris communicates with the human beings in the space station in a unique way. I won't tell you what it does, because that would ruin some of the impact of the movie.

Recently this movie has been redone with George Clooney. It was panned by the critics and I do not plan to see it. The beauty, mystery and integrity of the original Russian film Solaris truly can't be improved upon. Clooney doesn't have the depth necessary to star in such a film.

After I saw the movie back in 1973 (it was made in 1972) it disappeared and I haven't been able to find it again until I tried Netflicks. I joined just to see this movie again, but living in rural Alaska, where cable and even satellite TV is not an option, and where we get about two and a half stations, Netflicks is a nice addition to my flexibility. I can now rent movies without having to go into town to take them back too soon. They have movies I'd never find in any video store, not to mention the ones here in Fairbanks.

Solaris is based on a book by Stanislaw Lem, the "grandfather" of science fiction. I highly recommend all of his books. The Cyberiad is an absolutely hysterical book of short stories about the universe as run by robots. Not surprisingly, the robots act quite a bit like people. I used to read thise book to my son for bedtime stories and he still loves to remember stories of Trurl and Klapaucius, the two robot protagonists.

Lem is adept at writing what really matters. His stories and novels are about people, regardless of the setting, whether it is in the future, or within a frightening maze of bureaucracy. After I saw Solaris I began reading any books by Lem that I could find, and I have never been disappointed. (Lem is Polish, but there are good translations available.) He writes about the questions, "Who are we?" and "What is real?" and "What is important?" These are not easy questions. His books are not "what if" science fiction. They are built on deeply human questions. It is up to the reader to figure out the answers, too. Lem isn't giving anything away.

This is the problem with Hollywood making a Lem story into a movie. Hollywood wants to write "what if" stories, and that's not what Solaris is about.

Book List

This list was begun March 16, 2004 and lists only what I've recently read. Actually, not all of what I've recently read, but some have been returned to the library already and there were so many of them that I've forgotten the authors. From now on I'll make a note of each!

I have to add some of my favorite books, though.

Children of Men, PD James.
PD James usually writes mysteries, which I read and enjoy greatly for their moodiness and Old World slowness. This is something very different, a speculative fiction work that was wonderfully satisfying all the way through.

Animal Doctor, By P. C. Jersild Translated by David Mel Paul and Margareta Paul from the Swedish.
This reminded me a bit of Stanislaw Lem and those others who write of endless bureaucracies and how an emotional human being fits into such a thing. Great characters, thoughtful writing, and a clean, cold Northern essence.

Glyph, Percival Everett.
This book varies from snobby pretentiousness to very amusing social satire. A sort of reverse Forrest Gump, the protagonist Ralph is a baby who has an IQ of 450 and who writes erudite notes and reads voraciously between diaper changes. Ultimately it was a disappointment because the author relied too much on austere philosophical meanderings.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling.
The odd thing about the Harry Potter books is that for hundreds of pages you are convinced that nothing at all is really happening, and then things suddenly come together. Rowling is quite good at this!

All of the Stephanie Plum novels, the latest two I recently read.
Hard Eight, Janet Evanovich.
To The Nines, Janet Evanovich.

Dhalgren, Samuel Delaney.
I read everything that I find by Samual Delany. This book goes right to my gut.

Solaris, Stansilaw Lem.
The Cyberiad, Stansilaw Lem.
Also every other book he has written. Read him.

Hackers, Steven Levy.
How we all ended up with computers on our desktops, and the personalities and events involved. I could barely put it down to eat.

Any books that I can find written by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky.

Tripmaster Monkey, Maxine Hong Kingston.

The Tin Drum, G�nter Grass.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, JRR Tolkien.

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck.
This is my favorite book of all time. I have read every book Steinbeck has written, many of them numerous times.

All books written by Margaret Atwood, author of A Handmaid's Tale.

All books written by Marge Piercy, author of Woman on the Edge of Time.

2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke.

Diana Gabaldon Books
Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross

James Joyce
Ulysses
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Dubliners

Connie Willis
Water Witch (with Cynthia Felice)
Lincoln's Dreams
Doomsday Book
Remake
Bellwether
Promised Land (with Cynthia Felice)
To Say Nothing of the Dog This is one of those incredibly enjoyable books that I recommend to everyone.
Passage Brain death and the Titanic meet. I couldn't stop reading it, though it disturbed me to find out there was so much detail available about the Titanic. The ultimate mystery novel.

The Forest, Edward Rutherfurd. A long history of England with intertwining families throughout the centuries.

The Starry Child
Circle of Time, both by Lynn Hanna. She's trying to be Diana Gabaldon but isn't putting the time and effort into it. By the second book it's so contrived as to be boring.

Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland, W.B. Yeats. I read this as a child and it scared me so bad I didn't reread it until now. Why the little people/fairies/etc. make mortals cart around corpses is something I'm still figuring out. Could be they are saying, "Hey STUPID, you are MORTAL! Get your act together NOW!" Besides those types of stories, there are lots of others, and many written in Irish/English dialect. If you haven't read this, and you are into Irish lore, you have missed a classic.

The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris. I finally read this book from which the famous movie was made. Even knowing how things turn out didn't make it any less fascinating, and it is well-written, an added and required bonus if I am to finish a book. I like Clarice Starling because she embodies the person in me that is real, who has both feminine and masculine traits, not just some author's idea of what "woman" is. I get the idea that as a kid she also considered herself a person before she considered herself male or female.

Liz Evans
Don't Mess With Mrs. In-Between
JFK is Missing!
Who Killed Marilyn Monroe?
Barking!
Almost any blurb you read will describe Liz Evans' Grace Smith books as "England's answer to Janet Evanovich." I suppose it is a good way to sell books, and there is a slight resemblence but some nice differences, too. For one thing, these plots are a lot more involved, and the books are more detailed and longer than any Stephanie Plum novel. For another thing, Grace Smith is more my cup of tea. She's less concerned with men than Stephanie is, doesn't do the makeup thing, the clothes thing (in the four books I've read, she's still wearing the same three outfits!) and she's somewhat tactless. The thing she has in common is that she's out there being active, doing stuff, getting into a mess and many of the situations are quite funny, no doubt about it! These aren't just fluff, and the definitely aren't romances, and they are well-written.

Grouch Marx, Master Detective

author: Ron Goulart
1998

I’m a bit of a Marxophile. So when I found a mystery novel series that starred Groucho as the “Master Dective” I knew I’d have to take a look.

It’s one thing to write a book starring Sherlock Holmes, who, even as a fictional character, died decades ago. You can resurrect Holmes, but you can’t bring him into modern times. Besides, much of the allure of a Holmes mystery is that it takes place in the Victorian era. People behaved differently then, which becomes interesting.

It’s another thing to write a book with a protagonist who is not fictional. In fact, one can see hours and hours of his movies and television shows if one wishes. There are people alive who knew Groucho. Apparently the author got permission from something called Groucho Marx Productions in order to write this series of books. It’s strange to see someone fictionalize a real person. Distortion of a movie star happens in biographies, in newspapers and magazines all the time. But to take an entirely real character and try to move him through a plot in a book is a dangerous undertaking, to say the least.

The setting is 1937 Hollywood, and while that might seem like the distant past to some of you, the fact is that cars, telephones and other modern devices make it far less foreign that Victorian England.

Goulart writes with a light hand and a good sense of humor. His Groucho is entertaining most of the time and there are some truly hilarious conversations and wisecracks. Groucho’s Watson is a script writer named Frank Denby, who meets Groucho when he’s hired to write a radio script for him. Denby has just met and fallen in love with a woman and Groucho responds with “Ah splendid. I’ll do my best to screw that up for you.”

Remembering that Goulart has written many books about comic strips helps put this book into perspective. It’s just a little bit deeper than a comic strip. It’s amusing, moves quickly, and entertains. I found myself having to translate what was written into a black and white movie in my head, and that helped. I have no doubt that Goulart had a similar movie in his head when he wrote the book.

The plot is adequate, but nearly gets lost in all the patter. A good book for an afternoon or two of escape. I haven’t read the next book in the series, but I probably will.

The Shovel and the Loom

by Carl Friedman
Translation by Jeannette K. Ringold
1993 in the Dutch
1996 in English
Persea Books, NY

The first thing you must know is that Carl Friedman is a woman. I was confused at the beginning of the novel because the gender of the protagonist isn’t mentioned and since the author had a male name, I assumed (with ingrown sexism natural even to us women) that the person working in a florist shop making funeral wreathes, who also worked as a dishwasher plagued by cockroaches, and who studied Philosophy was a young man.

It’s not until sometime in the second chapter that our hero is revealed as a woman, when she applies for a job as a nanny with an Hasidic family, and is chided for wearing pants. As I read and realized this, I gave a sigh of relief, thinking, “She’s just like me, does everything. She’s capable.”

The Shovel and the Loom is a small book, but a very good one. By turns it is very funny, and very interesting, including philosophical conversations between the twenty-year-old Chaya and her elderly friend Mr. Apfelschnitt, and wonderful interactions with a three-year-old who would love to be a duck, and who quacks quietly as they walk through the park. We learn about Chaya’s parents, who are both Holocaust survivors and who are dealing with the legacy of the war in their own separate ways. Each time we meet them, another small fact is revealed about their character, the kind of thing that makes the reader have to stop and think.

Set in Antwerp, the book was originally written in Dutch. I very highly recommend it.

Bad Advice

author: Karin Goodwin
2002

An estranged brother and sister, living in different cities, meet new loves of dubious value, while still involved in other relationships, also of dubious value. I’m not sure why the book is called Bad Advice, but since editors and publishers tend to choose titles for books, often overriding the author’s choice, the mismatch could be due to that.

It’s a funny book and the writing is fresh and entertaining. If I hadn’t already returned it to the library I’d post a quote for your enjoyment. However, just the way in which the sister meets her new boyfriend is pretty comical. She’s jogging in Arizona and mistakes him for a mugger (who turns out to be less innocent than she thought) and performs her self-defense so well she has to take him to the hospital. Except first they have to find a way to get to the road and a phone, that way being a distant cowboy with a very skittery horse. By the time they get to help, it’s a miracle everyone isn’t injured.

Though the plot twists in almost screwball comedy style, (in fact, it would make a great ensemble movie), the characters are well-drawn and wonderfully flawed. A private detective, lovers and ex-lovers, parents and a dog, a snowstorm and unexpected arrivals all wind up into a grand sorting-out of troubles. It’s a book with a good heart.

Welcome

Welcome to Northern Book Review. My general blog was getting too muddled with categories and I felt I certainly could easily fill a blog with nothing but book reviews, so here we are.

My hope is to do at least two a week, since I read at least that many books during that time interval. I began my first blog as a way to write more and it has worked beautifully. I'm sure in no time at all there will be an eclectic set of book reviews here to tingle your brain.