I changed schools in 7th grade, and I can remember going to “Reading” class (in retrospect, how weird that we had a “reading” class!) on the first day. The teacher explained that the class was in the middle of a big project in which they had to read a book and then do all sorts of activities on it. Then she gave me the two choices: The Westing Game (which she’d described as “challenging”), and a novelization of Charles in Charge. I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING. I picked The Westing Game without knowing anything about it. (Later I discovered to my horror that I couldn’t see a single other person in the class reading it. And that will tell you a lot about the Lakeland school system.) Anyway, I LOVED the book. I thought Turtle was so cool, and I wanted to be just like her. I also developed a secret lasting desire to learn shorthand, because I was sure it would come in SUPER HANDY someday. I didn’t figure the mystery out ahead of time though, but then again I never do. I really need to re-read it one of these days…

As I’ve finished all the books you guys recommended last winter, I figured it was time for some new reading material. Next in the queue are:

• Atonement by Ian McEwan. I’ve been reading the film reviews with interest, and I noticed that most of them made a big deal about how it’s okay, but the book is SO MUCH better. It was Kevin‘s review that really sealed it for me though, so I headed over to Dymocks to pick up a copy. They had about 500 of them, and they all had Duck Face plastered on the cover.

  Me: Excuse me… Do you have any copies of Atonement that DON’T have Keira Knightley on the cover?
  Staff Member: Yeah, I’ve got some hidden here behind the counter.

  She really did. So now I’ve got it, but I’m finding it hard to make much headway. Not that it’s boring or anything; it’s just that every time I start reading it, I zonk out within ten minutes. I’ve heard there are some war scenes in it later, so I’m hoping it’ll pick up soon.

• The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke. The Snook and I both enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, so when I saw that her next book was now available in paperback, I had to get it.
• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. That suggestion came directly from this AskMeFi question, where someone asked for books similar to Jonathan Strange, books that are really dense with detail and often mash genres together. I don’t really know anything about this book other than it was a movie with Sean Connery (which I haven’t seen), but it was universally praised so I’m going to give it a go.

Have you read anything good lately?

I’ve just finished reading Clive Barker’s Abarat. I picked it up at the St. Barney’s Fair book sale for $1.50 last winter. I knew nothing about it and the cover was pretty boring (in fact, the font on my copy made me think it was called “Ararat” until I actually cracked it open), but I remembered enjoying Barker’s The Thief of Always so I thought I might give it a shot. I’m glad I did. It was great! Well, except for the first chapter. I understand that it’ll probably pay off later, but man, it’s completely different in tone to everything else that comes afterwards. It felt very “Wizard of Earthsea” (i.e. BORING) to me, so it was a relief to turn the page and meet Candy Quackenbush from good ol’ Chickentown, Minnesota. The story reminds me of Labyrinth and Alice in Wonderland, and it’s got some extremely memorable characters. In fact, one of my only complaints is that it introduces so many of them, and oftentimes Candy’s only with that person for a chapter or two. That got a bit frustrating and repetitive. I was so glad to see John Mischief and his brothers return to the tale. (I want a John Mischief action figure. Seriously.) So there I was, grooving on the story and not having any idea where it was going to go, when suddenly — it ended. Whaaaat? Yep, the last, like, twenty pages of my copy were just appendix. What the hell? So I go to the Internet, and it turns out that this is the first book in a SERIES OF FIVE. I feel a bit sucked in. Nowhere on my copy did it indicate that this was a series! And while I did enjoy it, I’m a little annoyed that I’m now hooked for four more books (only one of which has actually been published so far). But anyway, if you like fantasy but you find a lot of it boring and humourless, this is a great story.

Last Friday I finished the second of Eileen’s book recommendations, Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex. I knew absolutely nothing about it before I started, and I deliberately avoided the introduction at the front of my edition. I needn’t have worried. The big “hook” of this story – that it’s being narrated by a hermaphrodite – is given away on the first page. It’s not so much the story of what Cal is, but how he came to be what he is. So instead of immediately gratifying my curiosity (and voyeurism), Eugenides’ narrator abandons his intriguing opening in favour of the story of how Cal’s grandparents immigrated to the US. They escaped the Great Fire of Smyrna (it was eye-opening to be reading this while the debate about the Armenian Genocide is going on) and eventually ended up in Detroit. Eventually the story skips ahead to follow the romantic tribulations of Cal’s parents, first-generation Greek-Americans who had no idea what the previous generation had gotten up to. By the time Cal(liope) is finally born halfway through the book, I couldn’t put it down.

That’s not to say the book is perfect. The family stuff is certainly compelling – and the hermaphroditic element is undeniably interesting – but overall I never really warmed to Cal as a person. I liked Calliope and I sympathized with her confusion, but I didn’t find her sudden transition to Cal to be very believable. This review from the New York Review of Books spells it all out much better than I can. Still, the characters are all vivid and fascinating, and it taught me a little bit about a period in history I knew very little about. (My favorite part was probably the reintroduction of Desdemona to the narrative. I had actually thought several times to myself, “What happened to her? Did I skip a paragraph where she died?” Ha!)

Now I’m on to The Accidental by Ali Smith, as recommended by Brittanie. Again, I’m going in cold. So far it’s a very different read to Middlesex, like the difference between an impressionist Art Film and a sprawling Scorsese narrative.

Bah. I was all excited about NaNoReMo until he announced the chosen book: Catch-22. I HATE Catch-22. I had to read it in college and I swear I had to restart it about six times before I could muster the interest to plow through to the end. I guess I’ll sit this one out. (Besides, I’m in the middle of Middlesex and I’m loving it. Thanks again for the recommendation!)

• The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante
• Map of Bones by James Rollins
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comic) Issue 2
• Marvel 1602 (Trade Paperback)
• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
• The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs

Quick reviews:

– The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante
This one was lent to me by my co-worker Bridget right before we left on the trip. It’s a pretty straightforward crime thriller and I plowed through it, finishing just before we landed in America. I found the resolution a little surprising, mostly because I was expecting more of a twist. I also thought that the characters got remarkably dumb at the end; I knew where the villain was waaaay before they figured it out. Still, it was a relatively entertaining page turner.

– Map of Bones by James Rollins
My Dad’s wife Cindy lent me this one to read on the flight to Orlando. It’s basically a Da Vinci Code knockoff, with a bunch of secret agents running around Europe trying to defeat an ancient society of alchemists. I couldn’t even name a single character at this point, so they must have all been pretty forgettable. Mostly I was hooked because the initial murder takes place in the Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, where I’ve actually been. But I’d only recommend this one if you’re a big Dan Brown fan.

– Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comic) Issue 2
Yay! Picked this one up at a comic book store in Evanston, Illinois. Giles! Willow! I’m a big fan.

– Marvel 1602 (Trade Paperback)
I actually found this one at Target in Goshen, Indiana. I hadn’t heard of it before, but the idea of Neil Gaiman setting superheroes in Elizabethan England was too cool to pass up. I really liked it! Luckily I’ve been exposed to enough of the Marvel universe now to recognize most of the characters. I especially liked meeting the Fantastic Four, since I haven’t really read any of their stuff yet. (It took me, like, ten minutes to get what had happened when the glass thing in Doom’s bedroom breaks and “someone” calls Natasha a whore. That ruled.) So overall, I’d give this one a big thumbs-up to newbie fans like me who are still wary of jumping into the current comics chronology.

– Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
This was awesome. I picked it up on a whim at a bookshop in O’Hare and I just devoured it. I remember at one point actually feeling like a lightbulb had gone off over my head as McCloud perfectly illustrated how and why comics work. It reminded me of a lot of my film studies in college, but it’s written in such a way as to be accessible to everybody. Now I’d just like to find something similar that talks about the history of comics, especially as pertains to the 20th century. Any recommendations?

– The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs
I actually haven’t quite finished this one yet. I picked it up at LAX and I’m about 2/3 of the way through. It’s about one guy’s random obsession with reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. I’m enjoying it in much the same way I enjoy Bill Bryson’s work. It indulges in my love of pointless trivia and knowledge while occasionally making me laugh out loud. So far, so good!

John will be so proud. Last night after work I ventured into Kings Comics and bought my first real, actual comic book. (The others I’ve been reading have all been trade paperbacks bought from bookstores.) And what did I get? I got the first two issues of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born. I also asked about the upcoming Buffy Season 8 books and was told it should be here tomorrow! Nice b-day pressie. So this is what I don’t quite get, comic book fans: How do you know when new books come out? Do you just have to wait and watch on the comics sites?

OOOOKAY! Thank you, Max, for recommending a book that SCARED THE BEJESUS OUT OF ME. Yeah, I just finished Scott Smith’s “The Ruins.” I didn’t know it was going to be a horror story! I could only read it during the day, in full sunlight. I’m still creeped out. Oh, and yeah, it’s frickin’ springtime here so the bushes and flowers and VINES are all flourishing and YOU KNOW how I am with nature at the best of times, right? *shudder*