A Balm in Gilead

Although I'm a tearful movie watcher, I rarely cry at a book.

Gilead is an exception.

I read Gilead quite a few years ago at the strong recommendation of a (bookish like me!) friend.  I was instantly captured by the idea that John Ames, this aging man, would write down all the important things he would want to share with his young son, being quite aware that he likely would not live long enough to see Robby into adulthood.  I was SO moved by the character of Jack (son of his best friend and colleague Robert Boughton), and the tragedy of a life of poor choices and a love that doesn't suit its time.

Fast forward to Home and Lila.

Game of Thrones: build a wall around your heart

Game of Thrones is HOT.

Kind of.  But winter is coming.

My husband's fantasy-fiction-loving friends practically worship this series.  I had to see what all the fuss was about.  Plus, once again, trying desperately to read the book before watching the movie (or in this case, television series).

I don't have HBO, so I haven't been in a huge hurry to read this. I'm patient, I can wait to borrow the DVD from the library.  Which is good, because I started it sometime last summer, I think.  But then a few weeks ago, with the release of Season Two's DVD nigh, I felt like I ought to try to conquer the Seven Kingdoms.

Vikings just want to have fun

I'm willing to bet that every time you read about the Vikings in school, they were always the "other guys" or the "bad guys."  Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom, the first in his (thus far) six-book Saxon Stories, turns that on its head.

It's 866. Bebbanburg Castle is taken by the Danes. The Earl is killed, and ten-year-old Uhtred of Bebbanburg (fictional character based on an historical person) becomes a captive.

But here's the thing.  Uhtred doesn't really seem to like much about Saxon (aka English) life anyway.  With some arm-twisting, he learns to read & write. He spends more time than he'd like at Mass or other prayer.  He finds most of the priest/teachers/tutors in his Saxon life pretty insipid.  He is a second son, and during his first ten years, he seems on the (unhappy) path to priesthood.  But when his father and his older brother are killed by the Danes, things change.

Dane Earl Ragnar takes a shine to Uhtred and adopts him.  Uhtred relishes Dane life.   Vikings really know how to party.  There's plenty of sacking, pillaging, but also a lot of feasting, storytelling and mystery.  Sexual mores are much more relaxed; Uhtred and his childhood friend Brida become sexual partners in their teens, scandal-free.  He connects more easily to Thor and Odin than the Christian god, preferring the tangibility and power of Thor (the lightning god) rather than the meekness of Christ.  It's a lifestyle well-suited to a "man's man," someone who would rather be a chieftain and warrior than a scholar. Possessing an excellent sword, and knowing how to use it properly, is essential. Fierceness and bravery rule the day.  

Don't we have these people in our lives too?  I think about my son, who is a bright boy, and he does just fine in school, but would MUCH rather be moving.  He doesn't want to sit and read; he wants to ride his bike, climbs trees, play contact sports, wrestle and rough-house.

None of this excuses the vicious attacks by Danes against civilians (notably Lindesfarne), especially unarmed nuns and monks.  But brutality was not uncommon among any population at this time (the Christian rulers weren't peace-loving non-combatants!).

Dane life is active; Saxon life is "civilized."  But not everyone wants to be civilized.  Uhtred certainly doesn't.  It's dull.  History is written by the victors, in this case, the Saxons/English.  Whatever redeeming qualities the Danes may have - a laissez-faire attitude toward teen sexuality, a culture that honors combat and adventure above nearly all other things - these have been filtered out of our history.

Uhtred identifies with both the Saxons AND the Danes.  It makes him a distinct and believable character.  He has reasons for loyalty on BOTH sides of the conflict.  An interesting balancing act indeed.

Refreshing to read historical fiction that is sympathetic to "the other side."  Makes me want to hang out in a mead hall!

The Name of the Wind

Now and then I get on a kick to re-approach a project in a VERY orderly fashion.  (I think that was my original intent with my "shelf project" - but then I just went offline with that.... don't worry, it ain't over 'til it's over.)


Feeling kind of ho-hum about The Shelf, I decided to sort my GoodReads "to-read" list by rating stars...  not a bad way to go, right?  I want other readers' suggestions!

Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind has a HUGE rating from tens of thousands of GoodReads members - something like 4.5 stars (out of a possible 5) putting it in the Top 10 on my "to-read" list. I ordered it from Interlibrary Loan (words cannot express how much I love this free service).  It arrived last week.  Phat.... I mean, FAT, man.  For real - this book is 650 pages long.  But so many people rave at how great it is!  I dive in.

It took me just a week to read it, the story carried me along, and I would lose track of time into the wee hours.

Here's my way-too-brief summary:
Set in a pre-industrial pseudo-European fantasy world à la Middle Earth, Kvothe (pronouned "Quoth") is a masterful lute player and the uber-brilliant, pre-adolescent member of a family of respected travelling troubadours.  An itinerant magician (or "arcanist") joins the group, taking Kvothe under his wing, teaching him rudamentary magic and inspiring him to go to "University" for further magical training.  But suddenly, the troupe meets a vicious, violent end, and the boy is entirely alone, left to fend for himself in a ragamuffin urban adolescence so unhappy, Dickens' Oliver Twist is positively JOYOUS in comparison.  After about 150 pages of that misery (and reasonable success as a pickpocket), the boy leaves the city intent on University.  Surpassing all odds, he gets in.  On scholarship.

Bullies abound, Kvothe is often broke or deeply indebted, he pines for a girl, he sings for his supper, he slays monstrous beasts, he survives agonizing physical brutalities (muggings, whippings, accidents, he nearly dies of exposure, suffocation, falls, fires... and on and on).  And so many minor characters.  If you read it, keep a list for yourself... I had a hard time keeping everyone straight.



photo courtesy "HarshLight" on Flickr



It's a little bit "Harry Potter's Hogwart's: The Undergrad Years" - they go out to the bars, see "bands," get hammered.  Rich kids snub the kids on "financial aid." There's work-study, dorms & dining halls.... and hooking up.  Yet Hogwart's has genuine charm, warmth, and is breathtakingly magical, with loving, loyal friends and sensible, kind faculty - whereas University feels like a cold, cruel and dangerous version of Oxford.  But hey, college is more rigorous than high school....

I liked it, but I would have loved The Name of the Wind if I read it in my late teens-early 20s.  It came out in 2007, right about the time that many core Harry Potter fans were entering college.  How perfect!  But sadly, even though it's an engaging story, it made me feel a bit old and grumpy.  Stuff & bother.  Bah, humbug!

My local library has Book Two (Two? Why is 650 pages not long enough to tell a story anymore?  You don't have to write Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu to be great.... brevity is the soul of wit).  I glanced at The Wise Man's Fear the other day.  It is 1,100 PAGES LONG.  Eek - too much, even for me.  I'll wait for the movie!

Kenzie & Gennaro - you will be missed...

In spite of having seen Gone, Baby, Gone at least three times, it was only recently (after the holidays) that I somehow became aware that it was the 4^th in a series of six crime thrillers by Dennis Lehane.  I swear, I am not living under a rock, but 1. how I got this far without knowing this amazing series exists, and 2. how I could not have learned that this, in my Top 100 favorite films of all time, was first a BOOK, and a GREAT one, is beyond me.  I mean, I watch the credits! How did I miss this for so long?!  Common sense ain’t all that common.  Sounds like something Patrick Kenzie might say.

Casey Affleck & Michelle Monaghan were perfect.
Too bad they made just one.....

It’s pretty rare for me to read a series, rarer to read one that’s more than a trilogy, so for me to BLAZE through each and every volume of this 6-book adventure is really saying something.  Kenzie is an amazing narrator, and hard-boiled in the best tradition.  The genre has been done to death (from Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade, Columbo to Magnum P.I.  Even, to a degree, Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code, and god knows who else) but Kenzie is fresh & unique.  I loved how smart and savvy both Patrick & Angie are, and even smarter together. I love their chemistry, both intellectual and sexual.  I love how much he absolutely adores her, even when he’s mad as hell at her.  He’s tough yet tender.  I loved watching Angie transform from a battered wife to a confident 40-something.  Growing up takes a lifetime.

Not THOSE Shades of Grey

Jasper Fforde is delightful.  Only he could combine nursery rhyme and storybook characters with hard-boiled crime stories to make something wonderfully readable.  Everything about them is cheeky and a nod to other literary works, characters, etc.  I mean, how awesome is a crime novel about the demise of Humpty Dumpty called The Big Over Easy?  Hahahaha!

I recently enjoyed Book One of his most recent series, Shades of Grey.  NO, not THOSE Fifty Shades of Grey.  I know, I know, they're getting a lot of press, especially among those of us Gen X and older.  But this is a futuristic novel where people are ranked in society according to how well, and how much, they see colors.  It's exploring social differences and stereotypes among people of different "colors" in society... but taking that notion to an entirely new plane.  Fun steampunkiness too.

And for the record, I'm sure I'll read Fifty Shades of Grey.  Not sure I'll blog about it, though.

"Panem et Circenses"

Panem et Circenses: "Bread and Circuses" - the techniques used by the Roman Empire to keep the population docile. We won't rise up if we're not hungry, and we're adequately entertained, especially at the (gladiatorial) expense of others.

THAT is what makes The Hunger Games so frightening to me.  Its proximity to reality, giving me the sneaking suspicion that contemporary America is kept quiet by a certain amount of panem et circenses.  We are unlikely to question authority or even take much civic action.  Not when we have Taco Bell and Burger King and Doritos, and professional sports (in which the fans riot and loot after both major wins & losses) and Survivor and American Idol.

But the converse is also scary - a significant number of Americans carry concealed weapons because they do not trust authority.  That I read last week that in one state (I can't remember where), civilians may kill police officers who "trespass" on their property (for more of this concept, check out Indiana's new law - ugh).  That many in the Far Right believe and fear that the Feds want to control us through social welfare programs. Want to keep standing militias.  Expecting and preparing to repel a major Federal Takeover is no less terrifying. 

I don't want to be part of the Capitol and the Peacekeepers, nor one of the Rebels.

There's so much being written about The Hunger Games trilogy right now, with the first movie debuting this weekend.  It's a relevant time to reflect on what this narrative says about our world today.

Last week my friend asked me if she thought Hunger Games would be too violent for her 10-yr-old daughter to read (my 10-yr-old son has read Book 1, and loved it).  

If a book is too terrifying, you can always put it down.  Sadly, you cannot put "real life" down.  You can turn off the TV, but real life atrocity is still there.

Today, every 10-yr-old child has existed in an era of continuous war.  With an awareness of the Taliban.  People in authority who sexually molest children.   Terrible violence against women in Afghanistan.  Buildings collapsing and burning in lower Manhattan.  North Korean gulags.Haiti and Japan after the earthquake, South Asia after the tsunami.  Joseph Kony, atrocities, and child soldiers of sub-Saharan Africa. 

Is The Hunger Games, a work of fiction, more or less shocking than real life?

Let's play Peeta's sanity game: real or not-real?

Update: Check out this "Letter to the Editor" published by Time on April 2: "Children are already exposed to violence" - my thoughts almost exactly.