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corrielleI just turned in my grades for my two Ventura classes, and for the first time in a long while, I don't have immediately pressing papers that need to be graded. Sure, I need to get through some grading for my LA Mission class some time this coming week, but I don't need to do it right this second or face dire consequences. So, what better time than to catch up on my "books read" list for the year?
5. Abhorsen by Garth Nix
This was quite a satisfying climax to the series, but still managed to leave plenty of room for more stories in the universe. Lirael's unique talent as someone who can go into Death and Remember things that have been forgotten is crucial. In fact, it's the key to stopping the ancient Destroyer that was bound at the beginning of time from breaking free and wreaking havoc on both sides of the wall.
One of the things I like about this series is how well the mythology of it hangs together. The Abhorsen's seven bells make a lot of sense by the end of the book, and the idea of all seven of them ringing at once was powerful and satisfying. Also, I liked that Sam ended up being a Wallbuilder and not the Abhorsen at all. I know that "teenagers finding out what their purpose is in life, which is often quite different from what their family thought it was going to be" is something that happens in a lot of young adult fantasy, but this series does it with such grace and subtlety that it's not at all preachy or obnoxious. It just flows naturally, and I was happy for the characters as they figured what it was they were supposed to be doing.
Like in Sabriel, it is the girl, Lirael this time, who saves her heavily-hinted-at romantic interest. Nick was a pretty interesting character in his own right, even though he spends a lot of the novel under the control of the Destroyer.
Finally, this book probably managed one of the more upsetting fake-outs I can remember. I spent a good chunk of the novel thinking Sabriel and Touchstone were dead on the "normal" side of the Wall, just like that. I reread the scene where they get attacked, and I'm CONVINCED that Garth Nix wanted his readers to squirm a little. It took me a while to pick up the novel again after I read that scene, and I was VERY happy when the two of them showed up later, quite alive and ready to play their part in the final confrontation.
6. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (re-read)
With Rae reading The Wheel of Time series for the first time, I am doing something I said I wasn't going to do until we had a release date for the FINAL novel. I'm going back to the beginning, to when Rand really was just a sheepherder, Mat didn't have a care in the world except what the heck to do with the badger he caught on Beltine, and Nynaeve was a pretty girl with a bad temper who could predict the weather.
I'm going to say this when I talk about Great Hunt too, but I had forgotten just how fast these first books move. Already by the end of the book, Perrin knows he's a wolf-brother, Mat is speaking in the Old Tongue without knowing what he's saying, Nynaeve is showing signs of being super-powerful, and Rand is... well, he's Rand. I'm pretty hard on Rand usually, given some of the things he does later in the books, but rereading this first novel reminds me that not so very long ago, he was just a tall, redheaded kid from a small village who thought he was going to raise sheep for the rest of his life and didn't really want much else. The amount of change that he goes through even in this first novel is amazing, and it's really no wonder that the kid isn't always the most mentally stable of people.
I've always been impressed by the amount of world building that this series does, and so much of it went into this first book. Granted, I know the WoT universe like the back of my hand, but even here it already feels fully developed. Yes, there is obviously more to discover, but there are unique, individual countries and Tinkers and Whitecloaks and history and trade and terrifying things that go bump in the night and old, evil abandoned cities... It's FANTASTIC in every sense of the word.
Another of the things I love about this novel is briefly meeting characters who are going to be hugely important later - Min, Gareth Bryne (who I love so much I can't stand it...), Elayne, frickin' Galad (I swear, that boy is too good for his own good. It's disgusting.). I had forgotten that the scene where Rand goes over the wall into the Andoran royal palace is in this book... (And so is the first time meeting Elaida... HATE HER HATE HER HATE HER. Ok. I got that out of my system. Better now.)
I caught several of the early instances of Rand channeling this time around, from the very first night the escape from the Two Rivers and he helps Bela to keep up because Egwene is riding her. Reading while on the lookout for those kinds of things is fun.
And last of all... I had to squee all over again any time Lan and Nynaeve were in a scene together... or talking about each other. They are, and probably shall always remain, my favorite couple in the series. I know Nynaeve is overly proud and hypocritical and a bit shrewish... but considering that she's had to be Wisdom of a small town where everyone thinks she's too young for her job and she's dealing with a bunch of older men who probably remember her as a BABY... is it really any wonder? And Lan... oh Light, how I love that man... the scene where he's impressed with her tracking abilities still makes me grin, and I have to resist an urge to either cry or throw a plate at the nearest man when I read the whole "I will hate the man you choose because he is not me, but I will love him because he makes you smile" scene. <-- Most. Tragically. Romantic. Thing. Ever.
In short... reading this again made me remember all of the things about this book that made me rush through the other four that were out at the time, look up, and ask, "What do you MEAN book six isn't out yet?"
7. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
This is probably the most "highbrow" graphic novel I have ever read. I picked it up because there is a selection from it in my English lit textbook, and it intrigued me so much I wanted to read the rest and be able to talk about it in context with my students. It's the kind of book people wave around in defense of the "graphic novels are literature too" argument. It may be told with pictures, and the art is intrinsic to the way the story is told, but the use of language is as incisive and interesting and creative as any traditional "plain prose" novel. The book is a not-terribly-linear chronicle of the author's relationship with her father, who was probably a very unhappy closeted gay man who may (or may not...) have killed himself by stepping in front of a truck. This book plays with questions of sexual identity and gender stereotypes, which is fascinating coming from the daughter of a rather effeminate father who grew up to be a very butch lesbian, perhaps partly, she thinks at one point in the novel, to compensate for her father's lack of "maleness."
Another theme that runs throughout the novel is that of the unreliable nature of diaries and other "records" of one's life. The author talks about trying to record things truthfully and get at what "really happened," but the impossibility of that task becomes more and more apparent as the book goes on. The sections about her diary and her drive for truth made me think about my own journaling and "self-recording" habits. I too have worried about getting what "really" happened on the page, and even more so, what I "really" felt about things, because when I go back and read later, I want to be reading an authentic record of myself, not one that I self-censored. But then, I just end up constantly questioning whether or not what I'm writing is "authentic" and not getting anything done at all.
Last of all, this is a novel about the author and her family's relationship with literature, how literature and mythology influence and inform her relationships and the path that her life takes at key moments. It's brilliantly done, hard to read (both mentally and emotionally) and completely worth it.
8. Soulless by Gail Carringer
I picked up this book in our local Borders at least ten times before it finally came home with me. It is witty, tongue-in-cheek, hysterical fun. Alexia, the main character, lacks a soul, which doesn't make her immoral or evil, but does mean that her physical touch counteracts the supernatural effects of vampires and werewolves, which in practice means that a vampire can go in the sun with no danger at all if he is holding her hand, and a fully transformed werewolf, on the night of the full moon, will change back into its human form if she touches it. (Getting close enough to do that though... that is the problem.) Alexia belongs to a grand tradition of English heroines whose families are more concerned with hemlines, parties, and suitable matches than anything else, and her intelligence and force of personalities are seen as flaws rather than assets. It would be sad if the whole thing wasn't told with such a wry, droll sense of humor. I don't think there was a chapter in the whole book where I didn't crack up at least once.
Of course, there are people who are out to use supernatural creatures for their own ends, and Alexia is right in the middle of it because of her unique canceling-out-supernatural-powers ability, along with a good friend of hers who happens to be a well-dressed vampire and a rather handsome gentleman werewolf with a short temper. (For those worried that this sounds like shades of Twilight... the vampire is the swishiest gay man who has ever been undead. He's brilliantly foppish, and all the more dangerous because people do NOT take someone wearing that much lace seriously.)
Next book in the series is out. I've got it, just waiting for the right moment to read it. I'm hooked.
9. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (re-read)
Again, I had forgotten that so much happens in this book. We start off in Shienar with the visit from the Amyrlin and meeting the redoubtable Siuan Sanche, then move on quickly to the Horn of Valere getting stolen and chasing it all over (multiple dimensions of) creation. This book has portal stones and the Ways and an Ogier Stedding and Selene and poor Thom Merrilin getting dragged back into things.... And that's just on Rand's end of the story. Over in the White Tower, we've got Elayne and Egwene and Nynaeve and Min getting betrayed to the Seanchan by Liandrin (I had forgotten just how early we found out that she and Suroth are both foul Darkfriends...). We also run into Aludra for the first time, and Bayle Domon for a second, and we get to see that he's a collector of old things... and that Seanchan captain he's so wary of, Egeanin... *grin*
The things that stand out to me most about this book, though, stand out for very personal reasons. Reading Nynaeve's test for raising to Accepted was rough. It's the first time we get to see anyone go through the Three Arches, and I think it's incredibly powerful. And, as mentioned before, I'm the a huge Lan/Nynaeve shipper, so that last arch where we get to see Malkier restored and they're all happy and she has to leave when the arch appears... I can practically hear the devastation in his voice as he begs her not to go.
The other thing that's rough for me here is Egwene getting collared by the Seanchan as a damane. There are some pretty disturbing things about the WoT world... Forsaken running about, Whitecloak Questioners, Gray Men... but none of them disturb me on a personal level as much as the a'dam and the Seanchan practice of making women who can channel damane. It doesn't help that Egwene is one of my favorite characters, and having her go through it made me even more upset than I would have otherwise. The complete stripping away of free will gets me, and the fact that it turns even some Aes Sedai into malleable, brainwashed human pets is... just disgusting. I actually had to put the book down a few times and go get to a place where I was ready to deal with what was going on again. And I've read this book probably five times before. I suppose it shows how much I connect to the characters, and how very not ok I am with any one human being having that kind of control over another. The other thing that makes it hard for me is that the Seanchan are not evil. It's easy for me to see the Forsaken doing awful things like using Compulsion, but that's fine... they're Forsaken. Sold their souls to the Dark One and all that. The Seanchan, though... are complicated. I LIKE some of them. Egeanin and Furyk Karede and, of course, Tuon and Selucia, are all great characters. I absolutely adore Tuon, in fact, but she and all the rest of them think that damane are perfectly all right, and that it would be an abomination for them to go free. I can't wrap my head around it.
Anyway... the climax is climax-y... with Rand appearing in the sky and getting his requisite unhealable wound and Mat bloody Cauthon blowing the Horn of Valere... (I had almost forgotten that was him...) And the Seanchan are dealt with... for now. And people see Rand as what he is for the first time and know the Dragon is reborn... kind of. (I'm in the middle of TDR right now, and people are still generally saying things along the lines of, "Falme? What the heck happened there? And who was that in the sky anyway? And how about all those Power-wielding Aes Sedai the Seanchan had on the battlefield?" So it's all a big mess of rumor that would be making poor Siuan facepalm if she could forget her dignity and her purpose long enough for such a display of weakness...)
In a side note... HOLY CRAP THERE'S A RELEASE DATE FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. And the cover looks like Mat, Thom, and some other dude I can't identify about to go into the Tower of Ghenjei. (Which is totally identifiable due to the fact that it's shiny.) *flails a lot* Get Moiraine back, already, guys! Is it October 26th yet?
10. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
noirrosaleen loaned me this book when I saw her the weekend of the Visalia Ren Faire. I've been hearing good things about the Harry Dresden novels for ages, and I enjoyed the episodes of the TV show I saw, even though staunch book fans apparently hated the series. I'm a bit wary of long, unfinished series (see above book as reason why), but so many people I like and trust recommended them that I thought I'd give them a whirl. Storm Front was a quick, fun read. The pace is fast, the magical action is plentiful, and Harry is an amusingly self-deprecating crime-fighting wizard in the film noir detective vein. This first book does a lot of setup, understandably, laying out what White Magic and Black Magic are, how they work, and what the limits on both of them are. Not too info-dumpy, though, which it easily could have been. Besides, Harry's first person explanations of the magical laws of the universe are pretty entertaining on their own.
In the midst of all the action, there are also questions about Big Things like the proper use of power and the temptation to let anger coupled with ability turn one into something cruel and evil. Of course, Harry usually contemplates these things as he's in the middle of dire circumstances where he's got to make practical decisions about said philosophical debates... so the argument isn't all theoretical. I like that.
And finally... I would like to suggest that an excellent alternate title for this book would have been Harry Dresden and the Terrible, Horrible, Really Bad Week Where People Got Magically Murdered, Everyone Thinks He Did it, and Lots of People Try to Kill Him.
5. Abhorsen by Garth Nix
This was quite a satisfying climax to the series, but still managed to leave plenty of room for more stories in the universe. Lirael's unique talent as someone who can go into Death and Remember things that have been forgotten is crucial. In fact, it's the key to stopping the ancient Destroyer that was bound at the beginning of time from breaking free and wreaking havoc on both sides of the wall.
One of the things I like about this series is how well the mythology of it hangs together. The Abhorsen's seven bells make a lot of sense by the end of the book, and the idea of all seven of them ringing at once was powerful and satisfying. Also, I liked that Sam ended up being a Wallbuilder and not the Abhorsen at all. I know that "teenagers finding out what their purpose is in life, which is often quite different from what their family thought it was going to be" is something that happens in a lot of young adult fantasy, but this series does it with such grace and subtlety that it's not at all preachy or obnoxious. It just flows naturally, and I was happy for the characters as they figured what it was they were supposed to be doing.
Like in Sabriel, it is the girl, Lirael this time, who saves her heavily-hinted-at romantic interest. Nick was a pretty interesting character in his own right, even though he spends a lot of the novel under the control of the Destroyer.
Finally, this book probably managed one of the more upsetting fake-outs I can remember. I spent a good chunk of the novel thinking Sabriel and Touchstone were dead on the "normal" side of the Wall, just like that. I reread the scene where they get attacked, and I'm CONVINCED that Garth Nix wanted his readers to squirm a little. It took me a while to pick up the novel again after I read that scene, and I was VERY happy when the two of them showed up later, quite alive and ready to play their part in the final confrontation.
6. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (re-read)
With Rae reading The Wheel of Time series for the first time, I am doing something I said I wasn't going to do until we had a release date for the FINAL novel. I'm going back to the beginning, to when Rand really was just a sheepherder, Mat didn't have a care in the world except what the heck to do with the badger he caught on Beltine, and Nynaeve was a pretty girl with a bad temper who could predict the weather.
I'm going to say this when I talk about Great Hunt too, but I had forgotten just how fast these first books move. Already by the end of the book, Perrin knows he's a wolf-brother, Mat is speaking in the Old Tongue without knowing what he's saying, Nynaeve is showing signs of being super-powerful, and Rand is... well, he's Rand. I'm pretty hard on Rand usually, given some of the things he does later in the books, but rereading this first novel reminds me that not so very long ago, he was just a tall, redheaded kid from a small village who thought he was going to raise sheep for the rest of his life and didn't really want much else. The amount of change that he goes through even in this first novel is amazing, and it's really no wonder that the kid isn't always the most mentally stable of people.
I've always been impressed by the amount of world building that this series does, and so much of it went into this first book. Granted, I know the WoT universe like the back of my hand, but even here it already feels fully developed. Yes, there is obviously more to discover, but there are unique, individual countries and Tinkers and Whitecloaks and history and trade and terrifying things that go bump in the night and old, evil abandoned cities... It's FANTASTIC in every sense of the word.
Another of the things I love about this novel is briefly meeting characters who are going to be hugely important later - Min, Gareth Bryne (who I love so much I can't stand it...), Elayne, frickin' Galad (I swear, that boy is too good for his own good. It's disgusting.). I had forgotten that the scene where Rand goes over the wall into the Andoran royal palace is in this book... (And so is the first time meeting Elaida... HATE HER HATE HER HATE HER. Ok. I got that out of my system. Better now.)
I caught several of the early instances of Rand channeling this time around, from the very first night the escape from the Two Rivers and he helps Bela to keep up because Egwene is riding her. Reading while on the lookout for those kinds of things is fun.
And last of all... I had to squee all over again any time Lan and Nynaeve were in a scene together... or talking about each other. They are, and probably shall always remain, my favorite couple in the series. I know Nynaeve is overly proud and hypocritical and a bit shrewish... but considering that she's had to be Wisdom of a small town where everyone thinks she's too young for her job and she's dealing with a bunch of older men who probably remember her as a BABY... is it really any wonder? And Lan... oh Light, how I love that man... the scene where he's impressed with her tracking abilities still makes me grin, and I have to resist an urge to either cry or throw a plate at the nearest man when I read the whole "I will hate the man you choose because he is not me, but I will love him because he makes you smile" scene. <-- Most. Tragically. Romantic. Thing. Ever.
In short... reading this again made me remember all of the things about this book that made me rush through the other four that were out at the time, look up, and ask, "What do you MEAN book six isn't out yet?"
7. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
This is probably the most "highbrow" graphic novel I have ever read. I picked it up because there is a selection from it in my English lit textbook, and it intrigued me so much I wanted to read the rest and be able to talk about it in context with my students. It's the kind of book people wave around in defense of the "graphic novels are literature too" argument. It may be told with pictures, and the art is intrinsic to the way the story is told, but the use of language is as incisive and interesting and creative as any traditional "plain prose" novel. The book is a not-terribly-linear chronicle of the author's relationship with her father, who was probably a very unhappy closeted gay man who may (or may not...) have killed himself by stepping in front of a truck. This book plays with questions of sexual identity and gender stereotypes, which is fascinating coming from the daughter of a rather effeminate father who grew up to be a very butch lesbian, perhaps partly, she thinks at one point in the novel, to compensate for her father's lack of "maleness."
Another theme that runs throughout the novel is that of the unreliable nature of diaries and other "records" of one's life. The author talks about trying to record things truthfully and get at what "really happened," but the impossibility of that task becomes more and more apparent as the book goes on. The sections about her diary and her drive for truth made me think about my own journaling and "self-recording" habits. I too have worried about getting what "really" happened on the page, and even more so, what I "really" felt about things, because when I go back and read later, I want to be reading an authentic record of myself, not one that I self-censored. But then, I just end up constantly questioning whether or not what I'm writing is "authentic" and not getting anything done at all.
Last of all, this is a novel about the author and her family's relationship with literature, how literature and mythology influence and inform her relationships and the path that her life takes at key moments. It's brilliantly done, hard to read (both mentally and emotionally) and completely worth it.
8. Soulless by Gail Carringer
I picked up this book in our local Borders at least ten times before it finally came home with me. It is witty, tongue-in-cheek, hysterical fun. Alexia, the main character, lacks a soul, which doesn't make her immoral or evil, but does mean that her physical touch counteracts the supernatural effects of vampires and werewolves, which in practice means that a vampire can go in the sun with no danger at all if he is holding her hand, and a fully transformed werewolf, on the night of the full moon, will change back into its human form if she touches it. (Getting close enough to do that though... that is the problem.) Alexia belongs to a grand tradition of English heroines whose families are more concerned with hemlines, parties, and suitable matches than anything else, and her intelligence and force of personalities are seen as flaws rather than assets. It would be sad if the whole thing wasn't told with such a wry, droll sense of humor. I don't think there was a chapter in the whole book where I didn't crack up at least once.
Of course, there are people who are out to use supernatural creatures for their own ends, and Alexia is right in the middle of it because of her unique canceling-out-supernatural-powers ability, along with a good friend of hers who happens to be a well-dressed vampire and a rather handsome gentleman werewolf with a short temper. (For those worried that this sounds like shades of Twilight... the vampire is the swishiest gay man who has ever been undead. He's brilliantly foppish, and all the more dangerous because people do NOT take someone wearing that much lace seriously.)
Next book in the series is out. I've got it, just waiting for the right moment to read it. I'm hooked.
9. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (re-read)
Again, I had forgotten that so much happens in this book. We start off in Shienar with the visit from the Amyrlin and meeting the redoubtable Siuan Sanche, then move on quickly to the Horn of Valere getting stolen and chasing it all over (multiple dimensions of) creation. This book has portal stones and the Ways and an Ogier Stedding and Selene and poor Thom Merrilin getting dragged back into things.... And that's just on Rand's end of the story. Over in the White Tower, we've got Elayne and Egwene and Nynaeve and Min getting betrayed to the Seanchan by Liandrin (I had forgotten just how early we found out that she and Suroth are both foul Darkfriends...). We also run into Aludra for the first time, and Bayle Domon for a second, and we get to see that he's a collector of old things... and that Seanchan captain he's so wary of, Egeanin... *grin*
The things that stand out to me most about this book, though, stand out for very personal reasons. Reading Nynaeve's test for raising to Accepted was rough. It's the first time we get to see anyone go through the Three Arches, and I think it's incredibly powerful. And, as mentioned before, I'm the a huge Lan/Nynaeve shipper, so that last arch where we get to see Malkier restored and they're all happy and she has to leave when the arch appears... I can practically hear the devastation in his voice as he begs her not to go.
The other thing that's rough for me here is Egwene getting collared by the Seanchan as a damane. There are some pretty disturbing things about the WoT world... Forsaken running about, Whitecloak Questioners, Gray Men... but none of them disturb me on a personal level as much as the a'dam and the Seanchan practice of making women who can channel damane. It doesn't help that Egwene is one of my favorite characters, and having her go through it made me even more upset than I would have otherwise. The complete stripping away of free will gets me, and the fact that it turns even some Aes Sedai into malleable, brainwashed human pets is... just disgusting. I actually had to put the book down a few times and go get to a place where I was ready to deal with what was going on again. And I've read this book probably five times before. I suppose it shows how much I connect to the characters, and how very not ok I am with any one human being having that kind of control over another. The other thing that makes it hard for me is that the Seanchan are not evil. It's easy for me to see the Forsaken doing awful things like using Compulsion, but that's fine... they're Forsaken. Sold their souls to the Dark One and all that. The Seanchan, though... are complicated. I LIKE some of them. Egeanin and Furyk Karede and, of course, Tuon and Selucia, are all great characters. I absolutely adore Tuon, in fact, but she and all the rest of them think that damane are perfectly all right, and that it would be an abomination for them to go free. I can't wrap my head around it.
Anyway... the climax is climax-y... with Rand appearing in the sky and getting his requisite unhealable wound and Mat bloody Cauthon blowing the Horn of Valere... (I had almost forgotten that was him...) And the Seanchan are dealt with... for now. And people see Rand as what he is for the first time and know the Dragon is reborn... kind of. (I'm in the middle of TDR right now, and people are still generally saying things along the lines of, "Falme? What the heck happened there? And who was that in the sky anyway? And how about all those Power-wielding Aes Sedai the Seanchan had on the battlefield?" So it's all a big mess of rumor that would be making poor Siuan facepalm if she could forget her dignity and her purpose long enough for such a display of weakness...)
In a side note... HOLY CRAP THERE'S A RELEASE DATE FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. And the cover looks like Mat, Thom, and some other dude I can't identify about to go into the Tower of Ghenjei. (Which is totally identifiable due to the fact that it's shiny.) *flails a lot* Get Moiraine back, already, guys! Is it October 26th yet?
10. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
noirrosaleen loaned me this book when I saw her the weekend of the Visalia Ren Faire. I've been hearing good things about the Harry Dresden novels for ages, and I enjoyed the episodes of the TV show I saw, even though staunch book fans apparently hated the series. I'm a bit wary of long, unfinished series (see above book as reason why), but so many people I like and trust recommended them that I thought I'd give them a whirl. Storm Front was a quick, fun read. The pace is fast, the magical action is plentiful, and Harry is an amusingly self-deprecating crime-fighting wizard in the film noir detective vein. This first book does a lot of setup, understandably, laying out what White Magic and Black Magic are, how they work, and what the limits on both of them are. Not too info-dumpy, though, which it easily could have been. Besides, Harry's first person explanations of the magical laws of the universe are pretty entertaining on their own. In the midst of all the action, there are also questions about Big Things like the proper use of power and the temptation to let anger coupled with ability turn one into something cruel and evil. Of course, Harry usually contemplates these things as he's in the middle of dire circumstances where he's got to make practical decisions about said philosophical debates... so the argument isn't all theoretical. I like that.
And finally... I would like to suggest that an excellent alternate title for this book would have been Harry Dresden and the Terrible, Horrible, Really Bad Week Where People Got Magically Murdered, Everyone Thinks He Did it, and Lots of People Try to Kill Him.