A Bit of Talk About An Upcoming Essay

I recently re-read Emma, one of those famous novels by that famous novelist, Jane Austen.

I love this book. Actually, I love all of Miss Austen's novels.

And so, coming soon will be an essay focusing on one of the characters in this novel (I don't want to tell you which one - you have to read the essay to discover it; I'm a fan of the evil cliffhanger - in my own writing).

I'm really posting to say, that while I doubt that anyone reads this blog with anything approaching a regular basis, while I'm sure that most people who glance at the words published here on this humble webpage accidentally stumbled on the site and then had their eyes physically held open by a sadist, the essay I am about to write is going to be full of those odious spoilers.

When writing an essay, as it is necessary to give examples from the literature I read for evidence supporting my viewpoint that the essay strives to prove is correct, spoilers will be inevitable throughout this blog, except, perhaps, in the occasional review.

So this is your warning: If you haven't read the book that I am writing about (in this case, Emma), don't read my essay, lest the surprise and wonder of the book be spoilt by my poison-tipped pen/keyboard.

So, I Read 13 Little Blue Envelopes

It's not going to count as one of my "Romance Reading Challenge" books.

I'm glad I read it. It was full of adventure, but in a realistic way. The main character was kind of annoying, but she began to grow on me, and was likeable by the end of the book.

It was not, however, a romance. The book had romance - adventure & love. But a romantic relationship was not the point of the story. The story actually dealt with the protagonist's relationship with her aunt, and self-realization.

Way, Way Back, Many Centuries Ago

I have to admit, when younger, I was obsessed with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Thus, the not-exactly-literary title of this post. But the title does refer to something literary - my relationship with Melissa Walker.

Back when I still had a MySpace, Ms. Walker sent me a message. I had taken a picture of my backyard, which at the time, was in the basement of this shitty old house on W. Huron in Ann Arbor. The backyard had this pretty, ethereal look to it, though. It was the setting that a child-like imagination such as mine half-expects flittering, glittery fairies to appear in. Magical.

So, Ms. Walker sent me a message about how it was cool, or pretty, or something generic. Basically, she'd seen me lurking in some of the YA pages, and wanted me to check out her books.

I'd heard they were good (from her fans, who are admittedly a biased source). And I really wanted to like them. Ms. Walker worked/works for fashion magazines, something I wish I could do, myself. Except, you know, that would never happen because I don't have fashion sense and I don't think I could make it in New York city, which is, I believe, the crux of the fashion magazine world. I was intrigued by these books about a girl who becomes involved in modeling, one of those "discovered talent" books, especially as it was written by an inside source in the fashion world. How could I go wrong, right?

Wrong. Ms. Walker seems like a sweet person, as can be seen from her Myspace, her blog, or any of the vlogs she's done recently, but I didn't like her book Violet on the Runway.

For me, the book was predictable, and the writing, while not bad, just wasn't done well enough to save the book from being slightly boring. My favorite thing about the books? The name of the protagonist - Violet. I think that name is beautiful. Way prettier than mine. But sadly, a name does not carry a book.

Violet on the Runway is the first book in a series, thus far containing three books (I'm not sure if more are intended or not). The second two books might be better, but I plan to just steer clear, as I wasn't too fond of the first book. Others were, such as the person who gave this cute, rambling review. But I wasn't.

Book Review

There is more reason to read Charlie Huston's The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death than that it has a good title.

So long as you have a strong stomach, or at least like grossing yourself out, the book is thoroughly enjoyable. I, myself, fall in the former category, and so really liked reading this novel.

The great title is derived from the occupation the protagonist, Web, finds himself executing. Due to the slothful manner in which he deals with a tragic event, after some time of unemployment, Web has some debts to pay off which result in his agreeing to help clean up crime scenes. Along the way, the apathetic narrator and protagonist meets many colorful characters with whom he becomes involved in some form, including romantic interest and physical conflict.

With this novel, Huston has written something which is not found often enough: a great read. The novel reads quickly, but still makes the reader think. This book challenges the intellect without causing one's brain to hurt. There are moments when the reader may literally laugh out loud.

To be honest, I wasn't prepared to like this book. It is gritty, and the dialogue is fast-paced and witty in a way that many writers can't pull off. Yet I did enjoy this book. The human interaction in this book is very real. The protagonist is a very difficult character, and has reacted to the tragedy he endured in a manner which makes him, at times, (some would say most of the time,) unlikeable. He does, however, eventually confront what has happened, and the book ends with a feeling of hope without a cliche attached.

Reading Challenge

The Intro:

I've joined:(The picture is a link, so if you're interested, click it to read the original post & join.)

The RULES (for my own reference as much as for anyone else's edification):

1) "Romance" doesn't mean books-with-no-plot-and-no-reason-to-read-them-other-than-the-sex-scenes (although those count, too). Romance is a broad term, and in this instance, refers to any book in which two protagonists fall in love with each other.

2) This Challenge involves reading at least 5 books that fall into the category described in the first rule sometime during the year of 2009.

3) These books are to be read between January 1 & December 31, and then the reader who so spontaneously joined this challenge is to write a review & link it to the bookworm's original post.

4) The reading choices, which can be changed at any time, are to be linked with one of the graphics on the bookworm's original post (note the Jane Austen Book Club pic. above).

5) If interested, be sure to go to the bookworm's original post & leave a comment.

My Choices:

1) TwilightYeah, yeah, I know. I could barely stand reading it the first time. But I want to give it another shot. It does involve romance, and I like vampires, and maybe I gave the hype surrounding this book too much credence. I didn't see anything in the rules for this challenge that prohibited re-reading. So I'm going to re-read this book, and write a review, and see if I really dislike this book as much as I originally did, or if I think converting to Mormonism is a good idea.

2) The Jane Austen Book Club
I've heard mixed reviews of this book. I watched the movie version of it, and rather liked that, making me think I might like the book. Unfortunately, it's very hard to write books that deal with Austen matter well. But I'm willing to give this a shot.

3) The Notebook
I really didn't like this movie. I would probably like it even less, now, as my cynicism seems to increase as the years pass. But my mother loved the book, so I'm interested in reading the novel. I usually like the books better than the movies made from them.

4) 13 Little Blue Envelopes
To be honest, I'm not sure if this is a romance. If it's not, I'll modify my list after reading it. I recently read Let It Snow, of which Johnson is one of the authors. I liked her story best. And I love her blog. (If you haven't read it, you should - Ms. Johnson is a funny woman.) I got the impression it was a romance from reading the back cover in the bookstore. But reading the Amazon reviews is making me dubious. So this is my questionable fourth choice.

5) Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride
As I indicated previously, I am a huge Austen fan. That adjective is not meant to denote my girth, (which is, admittedly, larger than I desire,) but rather, my adoration for the works of Jane Austen. So every once in awhile, I try to read a book which is written by another avid Austen fan. I'm not (yet) a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America or anything quite so hardcore, involving monetary compensation other than that required to purchase books, but I do love a good novel. And I don't think anyone can honestly claim Ms. Austen didn't write good novels. Six of them, in fact. The reviews of this novel aren't as lukewarm as some others, so I will cross my fingers that this book will be fabulous.

The Conclusion:

Well, that's it for this post. With the exception of number four, I definitely picked four romance novels, and hopefully will have good reviews to write for them all. Even Twilight. We shall see.

Wish me luck, and if you like to read yourself, join me.

The Confusions Caused by Reading Nabokov

Well, my confusions from reading Nabokov.

I recently read that well known work Lolita. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It was good. It was well written and engaged my attention (and gag reflex). And it just read like something literary. Something that has to last, because it's just too good not to be read for the next 500 years.

But I'm not sure I understood it.

Maybe I'm being dumb - seriously, I'll admit, I can be a real ditz sometimes.

Yet I feel like I didn't get what I was supposed to get out of that novel. My aunt read some of his work and said he's a pedophile. Or pederast. I forget which, but both are perverted and involve younger people, though one is biased with regards to gender. So my aunt read Lolita (and some other things) and came away with the idea that Nabokov was a pervert. And the term "Lolita" is used for a young seductress.

So was I adding things to the work to make it more palatable? Or does some reading between the lines help a person come up with the version of Lolita it currently holds in my mind?

I got the idea that Lolita was a regular teenage girl. That she had, unfortunately, fallen onto the radar of a pervert who picked a stupid pseudonym for his confession. That she initially had a crush on this man, which isn't that surprising, as he seems to be genuinely handsome, and that she was taken advantage of.

Even if she made the first move, which seems to consist of some kisses and some flirting, as an adult, Humbert Humbert should have repelled her childish advances. Right?

And there are comments in his writing that make it seem, to me, like he's not to be trusted. He claims she made the first move, but when he describes the THREE TIMES he ravaged the girl, he uses something along the lines of a child cringing. And she later keeps talking about how he raped her. And she cries every night. It seemed to me like Humbert Humbert was coloring his account to make himself look better. Not okay, just better.

It seemed to me like Ms. Haze was competing with her mother for the attention of a handsome man, and didn't actually think that her flirtation would have the results that it did. Maybe she even wanted to have sex with him, but the manner in which she acted that night in the Enchanted Hunters hotel made me think otherwise. If so, it seems she regretted it during or immediately after the consummation of any such desires.

To me.

Am I wrong? Or are there just two ways of analyzing the material present in Nabokov's book?

Spooksville Series

Any avid Christopher Pike fans out there?

I grew up reading his work. When I was in fourth grade, I borrowed Last Act from a friend, and was hooked from that point. Luckily for me, I discovered him in the late nineties, when he was extremely popular, and publishing a book every few months. Now, sadly, I have read most of his work, and search for gossip on the internet about possible future works, crossing my fingers.

The only thing I had not, until recently, read of his was the Spooksville Series.

To be honest, when this series of Pike's came out, it was during that phase where I was "too cool" to read things that were categorized as below young adult. I believe this series is intermediate. It's similar to Goosebumps, except that it's by Pike, and in my opinion, more enjoyable (not that I did not enjoy Stine growing up, also).

I have about 13 of the books, but have only read the first five thus far. The books are rather hard to come by. I've been searching eBay and Amazon because they're out of print.

Of the five I have read, however, I can say that while the books are not as good as his teen and adult fiction, they're really not too bad, either.

The characters are younger, of course. But Pike characterizes them very well. There's Adam, who has a hero complex, Watch, who has familial issues, Cindy, who's too pretty, and Sally, who's a courageous gossip. Really, reading these books felt like "Pike lite." A lot of issues he brings up in his teen and adult literature are in these books, as well. He's not talking down to the reader, but he does phrase things a bit easier, perhaps, because he's writing for a younger audience.

I would recommend hardcore Pike fans such as myself check this series out if they're Pike-starved, or recommend the books to someone who's looking for books at an intermediate reading level.