Katherine's Curiosities

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Updated 06/09/10

Finished Books:
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu
Hart & Boot & Other Stories by Tim Pratt
Stephen King Goes to the Movies by Stephen King
The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by Martin Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Waugh
The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt
Bonk by Mary Roach
Horus Rising by Dan Abnett
Good Book by David Plotz
The Long Walk by Stephen King
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin

Random Short Works

Progress Reports on LJ


I am considering:

  1. Finishing a book every ten days.
    More or less. Books I started in 2009 will have their remainders broken into tenths and read according to that schedule. I will also be reading The Return of the King in conjunction with Tor's read-through. I'll shoe-horn in chapters of Tolkien here and there.
  2. Using an established reading list.
    More or less. I don't think I have the patience to line up more than 10 or so books to start.

Advantages:
I read more when challenged to do so. In college I took 2-4 English classes a semester with with 2-6 novels per class. I read every day. I'd also like to return to being conscious of why I choose to read what I do and what lessons might be learned from the narratives.

Disadvantages:
As soon as I set these sort of rules, I take glee in breaking them or become stressed by the imposed obligation. Is it possible to be challenged without being neurotic?

Tentative Reading List:

  1. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (2006)

    • When did I start reading this book? Around Dec. 20, 2009 (It was loaned to me in the wee hours of the 19th. I didn't start reading it until the 20th due to a hangover.)
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? I finished on Jan. 9th around 1am.
    • Why did I choose this book? It was recommended to me, pressed into my hands, by Tyler Boddie. He thought I would enjoy it.
    • So, how was it?
      It was very good. In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson takes a moment in time, the apprehension of murderer Hawley Crippen in 1910, and expends on it, telling the histories of Crippen as well the men involved in the development of the wireless telegraph that was instrumental in Crippen's capture. What you end up with is two stories, told in counter point -- the personal life of Crippen, and Guglielmo Marconi's obsession with sending a trans-Atlantic wireless signal. Both narratives are backed up with an enormous amount of research. Indeed, anything "said" in the novel is a quote from a primary source. As far as historical fiction goes, the emphasis is firmly on historical and therefore the stories are told more than shown (in writerly parlance). And it works for the most part. History is most interesting when it's placed into context. Larson adds enough touches and fourth-wall winks to the audience to keep the book from being a textbook. Strangely, for the first half of the book I found Marconi's tale to be the more compelling, and in the second half, Crippen's.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Telling doesn't have to be a bad thing. And "telling details" are beautiful things.

  2. The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu (2008)

    • When did I start reading this book? Read the first chapter or so during the summer of 2009. Would have finished it then, but the library wouldn't let me renew it. Started again at Ch. 2 on Jan. 10, 2010.
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Finished Jan. 21st.
    • Why did I choose this book? I saw it...somewhere. Maybe a Facebook friend was reading it or listed it on iRead. I don't really remember.
    • So, how was it?
      David Hajdu provides a firm history of comics from the turn of the 20th century onward, placing the certain types of comic within their historical context. Comics are very much a product of what is going on socially and culturally. Until the late 40s and early 50s, there was the usual amount of objection to comics, but when juvenile delinquency started to rise in the late 40s, comic books took the blame despite no scientific evidence that comics caused delinquent youngsters. At the same time, comics had swung around to horror and hardcore crime. It was easy pickings for their attackers.

      The one thing I would have like from the book is more emphasis on the second half of its sub-title: "How It Changed America." It certainly changed comic books, for a while at least. (Hajdu leaves off in the 50s. Via WikiPedia, it would seem that the Comics Code has, thankfully, eroded over time.) Instead, considering the book's Epilogue, it would seem that the better subtitle would have been "How Changing America Changed Comic-Books." It would be nice if Hajdu had distilled down the lessons that might be applicable to current controversies like video game violence (speaking of influencing the young) or vaccines and autism (speaking of panics with no scientific basis). Maybe it's the up to the reader to work that out for themselves.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      This history includes many names being thrown around and it's interesting that I didn't care about keeping track of them after a while. I suppose that says something about how much one should worry about a cast of thousands.

  3. Hart & Boot & Other Stories by Tim Pratt (2007)

    • When did I start reading this book? January 21, 2009
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? January 30, 2009. Well, sort of. I couldn't finish the last story.
    • Why did I choose this book? I very much enjoyed The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl. I liked the Western aspect of that book and, considering the cowboy figure on the cover of Hart & Boot, I was intrigued.
    • So, how was it?
      The blurb on the back of the book quotes Tim Pratt's writing as being Gaimanesque, and while reading this collection of short stories I realized why I didn't care for Gaiman's American Gods. American Gods, or at least that modern world filled with the old gods, was *not* a great collection of short stories. I never cared for the overarching plot. Pratt's stories (or at least 11 of the 13 in this anthology) inhabit similar territory and do so in satisfying, tasty chunks. I will admit though that I wasn't as pleased with the last two stories. One was more on the sci-fi end and the other... I couldn't get into it at all. I tried, really I did, but it couldn't hold my interest. This might be due to my current position as a writer. We're heavily in the world building stage and I wasn't able to fall comfortably into either of those stories. My sci-fi/fantasy cache is full.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      It is intersting that I my brain seems so full of some story elements that I can't quite jam more in. This might be why I'm semi-reluctant to watch sci-fi as well. I seem to have a puny brain.

  4. Stephen King Goes to the Movies by Stephen King (2009)

    • When did I start reading this book? January 31st
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? February 10th, Did not finish one of the stories in the anthology.
    • Why did I choose this book? Saw it while browsing Amazon.com. I enjoy hearing about "behind the scenes" of writing and movie making. Where the two intersect is particularly intersting.
    • So, how was it?
      I love it when writers talk about movie adaptations. The interplay between the two types of story-telling intrigues me. Unfortunately, King doesn't have much to say on the subject. Each of the five stories in this anthology are accompanied by only a page of commentary. Really, this book seems to be an excuse to anthologize five disparate stories.

      I'm not a huge King fan, but I can't deny that he deserves a hard look due to his popularity. Two of the stories were rereads for me.  "The Mangler" and "Children of the Corn" are from Night Shift, the first King I read back in high school. They're decent stories though during this reading I was amused  by King's interpretation of Nebraska geography. (From the northern most point of Highway 17 to Grand Island is 165-ish miles, to North Platte (which I could see being the author's choice, but not an editor's choice) about 80.) The movies are not good, though it's mildly amusing to watch Robert Englund chew the scenery in The Mangler.

      "1408" is the gem of this book. It's a tight, unsettling short story. It's King at his best. Unlike Carrie, this story has "found footage" that is only alluded to instead of shown. Ambiguity lends itself well to horror. In many ways, this story feels like a brief version of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. In fact the more I think about it, the more parallels I see. Not a bad thing, in my opinion. I haven't yet tired of good solid haunting stories. The movie is good too and this project is on King's favorite adaptation list.

      While I own Different Seasons ("The Body" is my favorite Stephen King work), I had not read "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption." I'd seen Frank Darabont's movie adaptation which, while good, is slow and methodical. (Darabont has also written-for-the-screen and directed The Green Mile and The Mist. I haven't seen the former, but the latter is one of the bleakest horror movies I had seen in a long while. Well worth a watch.) The story is slow and methodical as well, maybe too much so. As a writer I'm at the stage where lean writing is my friend, and it seems that there could be areas of "Shawshank" that could be left out.

      Which brings me to the last story of this anthology: "Low Men in Yellow Coats." I did not read more than the first section of this story because it had no hook for me. Nothing compelling happened in the first 24 pages. The movie Hearts in Atlantis works better, but is somewhat unfocused in its structure. Unfortunately, "Low Men" takes up half the book. Too bad "The Mist" wasn't included instead.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      I address some of that above.

  5. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis (2007)

    • When did I start reading this book? February 10, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Finished February 20,2010
    • Why did I choose this book? I believe I heard mention of this book on a TV show. Maybe. I do know that my interest in it predated my knowledge of its movie adeptation.
    • So, how was it?
      The book has two aspects: the story of Michael Oher and, as a backbone to his story, the evolution of the offensive game over the past 30 years or so. Both are compelling, though I was probably more interested in the history. The evolution of a system (running game to passing game to defense against passing game to offense counting passing defense) is a cool thing to consider. Granted, Lewis probably gives me as much history as I really want and keeps it interesting with Oher's narrative.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Eventually, I will stop reading nonfiction this year...

  6. A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin (2005)

    • When did I start reading this book? Feb. 23, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Finished Feb. 28, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? I had not heard of this book until Elizabeth Bear mentioned it in her review of the recent Sherlock Holmes movie. It sounded good to me.
    • So, how was it?
      Considering recent events in my life, this book was a hard read. This Sherlock Holmes is 93 years old and dealing with slight dementia, an old body, and all the questions that might come at the end of a man's life. Of course, Sherlock Holmes is supposed to be the man that has the answers when he asks questions. What happens when he doesn't? This is a novel firmly within the literary "genre." We're examining the inner life of a character, not terribly concerned with discrete events of a plot. I liked this book; it will undoubtedly stick with me, but I can't say I found it enjoyable. I read most of it in airports and airplanes while traveling to possibly say goodbye to my grandmother. (I had a similar problem with Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres -- not reading material when you're family is going nuts.) Stories are told and retold, both in this book and in my life (and in several of the short works I read).

      Of particularly Holmesian things, the novel does not have Watson, drug abuse, or Irene Adler. It does very much have an apiary. I'm noting this because I think it will be interesting what authors decide to focus on or not.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      I need to remember that there is value in telling and retelling stories. It's an important part of what we do as people. (There might be some good opportunities to do that in the Zeta Iota project.)

  7. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon (2004)

    • When did I start reading this book? Mar. 2, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Finished, Mar. 5, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? Chabon writing a Holmes story.
    • So, how was it?
      There are many similarities between The Final Solution and Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind. Both deal with Holmes in his twilight years; a Holmes with physical maladies that frustrate his ability to function. Chabon's Holmes has less mental problems. Both have retired from public life and intend to spend the remainder of life quietly keeping bees. Both novels have small boys that become important to Holmes. Both novels deal with the experience of the World Wars; Chabon's novelette set before WWII and Cullin's after. Neither include Watson or the notorious drug abuse. The primary difference is that Chabon's novel is more direct detective story. A crime occurs; Holmes solves it. Nevertheless, The Final Solution is still a "literary" novel (though Chabon takes some exception to the label). The story does have a serious and poignant historical overlay which is presented more subtly than in Cullin's book. It's a lovely, quick read.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      The "message" of a novel can be subtle. Don't fear "genre."

  8. The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by Martin Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Waugh (1987)

    • When did I start reading this book? Mar. 6, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Read most of it by Mar. 20, 2010. There were a couple of stories I could not finish.
    • Why did I choose this book? It was the only Holmes in my mother's house.
    • So, how was it?
      The anthology had a few okay stories ("The Final Toast" by Stuart Kaminsky stands out), but most were very exposition heavy (something Doyle really isn't) or are very concerned with social commentary (something I don't remember Doyle's stories being). The characters go on at great length about new technologies, such as the Gatlin gun or women's suffrage. I didn't finish a few stories because they bored me or quickly entered the realm of the ridiculous. I reread Doyle's "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" as well, and again, I'm struck with how few descriptions there are. To some extent, I think the modern reader takes the Sherlock Holmes stories as a whole and weaves them together, borrowing details from one to augment all the others. The pastiche author might be left feeling that the entire rug needs to be rewove to accommodate their story.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Don't be afraid to let details of the world you write in speak for each other.

  9. The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt (1950)

    • When did I start reading this book? March 24, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? March 31, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? Need science fiction. Basis for Alien. Free through Greater Phoenix Digital Library
    • So, how was it?
      This book is noted as being the inspiration for Alien and indeed a settlement was paid to van Vogt by 20th Century Fox because of the similarities. I can see that, though from the POV of a young-ish reader in 2010, it's hard to imagine science fiction without the trope of an alien using a human as a host for reproduction. The work that Space Beagle has obviously influenced is Star Trek. This novel is a collection of four stories that are gently connected. In each, the Beagle encounters a space-bound threat; red-shirts die. But there is no Federation in the cold darkness of van Vogt's space. That makes these stories more tense than any Trek episode.

      Also, there is no Capt. Kirk. Instead, van Vogt's hero is Grosvenor, a multi-disciplined scientist who saves the day by seeing past the short-comings of his specialist colleagues. Underneath the questionable pychobabble-based science, van Vogt does have an interesting point about the dangers of over-specializing versus taking a broader view of sciences, both hard and soft. Since this very thing plays a roll in the Zeta Iota project that Eric and I are working on, I was pleased with the serendipity.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      The writing is...perfunctory. Van Vogt tells the stories. There is some description, but not much. There is some dialog, but not much. People exclaim when they really...wouldn't. Still, the first story ("Black Destroyer" or Ch. 1-6) held my attention completely.

  10. Bonk by Mary Roach (2008)

    • When did I start reading this book? April 8, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Finished April 10, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? Enjoyed Roach's other books.
    • So, how was it?
      Subtitled: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
      Roach's first book was Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Her second book was Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Spook was not as "curious" and not as good.

      Simply, Bonk is a quick history of sex research. I'd say that Roach tends to highlight some of the more odd aspects, but when you get down to really thinking about it, all sex research is slightly befuddling for our culture. Sure, rats in polyester pants is not ordinary, but if you've ever read a popular news article about a scientific paper on some aspect of sex research (and we're talking about the act here, not aspects of gender), you may have thought, "Uh...how exactly did they measure *that*?" Well, Mary Roach tries to answer some of those questions. She does so frankly and with the humor you can't remove from the subject. The bottom line of this book (as well as Stiff) is that knowing more is better than knowing nothing, especially if the subject makes you uncomfortable.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Roach writes with honesty and humor. Good lesson.

  11. Horus Rising by Dan Abnett (2006)

    • When did I start reading this book? April 10, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? April 20, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? I know a bit about the Warhammer 40K universe, but not much. I've read some of the gaming materials and I've previously read a 40k novel. That novel was pretty disappointing. Still in my search for palatable military SF, I figured I'd give 40K a second try with a series recommended by Chris Morgan.
    • So, how was it?
      The Horus Heresy novels are set 10 millennium before Warhammer 40K (the 40K here referring to the human race in the year 40,000) and sets up some of the conflict that pervades that universe. Abnett does a wonderful job in doing that, even though this novel (the first in the series) only really sets up that setup.

      I enjoyed this novel a great deal. It has great writing, solid characters who don't do stupid things, and lots of ambiguity. Abnett questions the concept of the righteous war against the backdrop of 40K's nature vs chaos themes. He also presents the value of historians and journalists in such actions; an aspect of the story which I hadn't expected. In many ways, this is a great war novel, but not such a great sci-fi novel. Much of that is due to the 40K setting. I question some of the lack of technical advancement in such a far-future setting. Only so much of that can be accounted for by technological dark ages. On the whole, I can overlook those things when the narrative is compelling enough.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Writing-wise, Abnett doesn't go out of his way to explain technology, and I don't feel that lack. The battle scenes are something to study. They are fluid and clear. He also plays with the chronology of narrative and does so effortlessly. These things can be done. You just have to do them well.

  12. Good Book by David Plotz (2009)

    • When did I start reading this book? April 10, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? April 29, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? Sounded interesting. I have found the Bible fascinating since my mother gave me an edition as confirmation gift that included the Apocrypha. Here were whole books that were left out of my education. What else had I been missing?
    • So, how was it?
      I've read a good deal of the Bible. I'm also somewhat cynical and somewhat morbid. There's a good deal in the Old Testament for the horror fan. Not only plagues and the smiting of first-born sons, but gems like Jael taking care of an enemy general by lulling him to sleep and then driving a tent peg through his head. I know most of the popular stories *and* their dark codas. (Take Daniel and the lions' den, for instance. King Darius is convinced to pass a law stating that prayer should only be addressed to him. Daniel, an adviser to Darius but also a God-fearing man, won't do it. He's ratted out for disobeying the law. The king realizes that the law was bone-headed, but has to punish Daniel. Daniel is thrown into the lions den, but emerges unscathed. ...And then the king arrests the tattle-tales and has them *and their families* thrown to the lions. Even though they were working to enforce the king's bone-headed law.)

      So, I had that over Plotz. A lapsed Jew, he started this literary adventure after randomly encounter the story of Dinah. He too had a "What else am I missing?" moment. It's somewhat interesting to relive that innocent shock at some of these tales, but that would get old if that were Plotz' only commentary. Instead, I'm rather impressed with how much of the Bible is a history of a people and an instruction book for their continued survival. The angry Old Testament God serves a specific purpose. He's toughening His people up. This is somewhat Jewish reading. As Plotz points out, Christian's argue the OT is simply a set up for the redemptive New Testament. While I've always known that Judaism doesn't include "the other half," I've never stopped to think about what that leaves behind. The OT is messy and sometimes ambiguous in its message, and that's a good thing. That encourages dialogue.

      Another thing that Plotz points out, and I've noticed this too, is how ubiquitous many Bible stories are. They pervade our culture. We're are expected to catch references to Jonah and Whale or Noah and the Ark. (Without good ol' Noah, the comedy of Bill Cosby and Eddie Izzard (NFWS) would be lacking.) I can't imagine not knowing these stories.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      David Plotz' writing style is light and easy. Good Book started as a blog project and the style has some of that immediacy. He treats the Bible with respect, but isn't afraid to question what's going on. My only criticism is that sometimes the references made to popular culture or current politics are too trivial. They're going to be outdated and might cause this book to age poorly. That's probably the biggest danger of blog-to-books. We expect blogs to be up-to-date, but eventually out-of-date. We expect books to remain relevant.

  13. The Long Walk by Stephen King (1979)

    • When did I start reading this book? April 1, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? April 8, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? Inserted into my reading queue on recommendation by JT (with a nod to Nicole's comment that she never wanted to read it again because it creeped her out -- what better word of mouth could a Stephen King story get?).
    • So, how was it?
      In general, I think Stephen King does two things well: 1.) Skewing the normal world into the realm of the uncanny, and 2.) depicting the interactions of characters. His best stories do both. "The Body" places the interactions of its young protagonists against the pall of searching for a dead kid. While not supernatural in nature, the story has a certain tinge to it. Even if the reader has never entered the state of Maine, we know these places the boys walk through. And what if, at any turn, there was the possibility of encountering the body of a peer? It could be you after all that got hit by a train or done in. And the boys ruminate on that as well as lesser aspects of life. The human mind skips around. At any given moment, we can give life vs death and Superman v Batman equal weight in our thought processes. We can love a person and equally resent and hate them with only the occasional dissonance.

      King does a very good job of doing that in The Long Walk. We're in Garraty's head as he walks The Long Walk -- a government supported sport in which 100 young men walk at 4mph until they can't any more. King does an admirable job of giving us the tangle of thoughts, especially in relation to the actions and attitudes of Garraty's fellow walkers. For me, The Long Walk lacks the second attribute. I didn't believe in the alternate world King gave me. I realize that the novel can be read in as a sort of rhetorical situation, that perhaps King is presenting me with the situation and asking me to just go with it. That doesn't do it for me. Why? Because I truly believe in causation. Stories are better when the world they're set in *works*. And because I'm optimistic about the human race. If you hand me a dystopia, you're going to have to work hard to convince me that it could happen. Within the situation, Garraty's thoughts ring true, but I don't believe that the situation could be real and that keeps me from being in the story.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      The writing itself is really good. It's about people *walking* and yet is never dull, never drags. Really good pacing and (like Bret Easton Ellis) King uses a level of minor detail that I envy.

  14. Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin (1990)

    • When did I start reading this book? Sometime in 2009.
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? May 29, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? Read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for FiestaCon last year. Realized this might be an interesting counter-reading of the text.
    • So, how was it?
      Finished reading this almost a year after reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I liked this book, but there isn't much outstanding about it. This is a parallel story; the events of Jekyll and Hyde told from the POV of a house maid. When considered side by side, it's an interesting counterpoint. Stevenson's story has no women in it other than a couple of prototypicals. This was fact lost on me until my conversation with John Hertz about it last year at FiestaCon. A character like Mary Reilly, a servant in Jekyll's household, would be invisible to the character's relating the story in the Stevenson text. But in the end, I'm not sure Mary is above prototypical (or really if that word means anything since any character starts at prototyplical, even ourselves). She is the honest, steadfast servant. She tries to make sense of what she cannot. She has an unpleasant past and love for her kindly employer. Is that any different than what would be expected of this character?
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      The writing is good, but not great. The narrative is told in the form of a journal kept by Mary. That's an old story device, one I like, and one I've used. On the whole, this book doesn't leave me feeling strongly one way or another.

  15. The Goblin Companion by Brian Froud

    • When did I start reading this book? June 4, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? June 9, 2010
    • Why did I choose this book? Liked the movie Labyrinth and the art of Brian Froud.
    • So, how was it?
      I love Brian Froud's goblin art. I'm not such a fan of Terry Jones's accompanying text. While the stories are absurd and whimsical, I wish they had more of a thread through them, even if it's simply more jokes paid off in the end.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Pay off jokes. Seriously.

  16. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
  17. Night and the City by Gerald Kersh
  18. The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt
  19. Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard

    • When did I start reading this book? April 2, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? In Progress, maybe.
    • Why did I choose this book? Need science fiction.

  20. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
  21. Starship Troppers by Robert Heinlein
  22. The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner
  23. Editor to Author: The Letters of Maxwell E. Perkins ed. John Hall Wheelock
  24. Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose by Constance Hale
  25. Medea: Harlan's World ed. by Harlan Ellison
  26. Discovering Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics by A. Malcolm Campbell
  27. What Mad Pursuit by Francis Crick
  28. Horus Heresy Books

  29. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (1955)

    • When did I start reading this book? January 28th or 29th
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? In Progress
    • Why did I choose this book? It is *the* classic of fantasy literature. I'm reading in conjunction with Tor's read-through.

  30. Cat in the Mirror by Mary Stolz

    • When did I start reading this book? March 17th
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? In Progress
    • Why did I choose this book? Reread from 7th grade.

  31. Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle by Daniel Stashower

    • When did I start reading this book? Mar. 21, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? In Progress
    • Why did I choose this book? Holmesathon

  32. Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy

    • When did I start reading this book? April 1, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? In Progress, maybe.
    • Why did I choose this book? Need military fiction.

Random Short Works:

Didn't Make It Through

  1. On Basilisk Station by David Weber (1999)
    • When did I start reading this book? Jan. 9, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Jan. 9, 2010 - I did not finish.
    • Why did I choose this book? It was chosen to be part of my military sci-fi primer.
    • So, how was it?
      I didn't get past the first few pages. I shouldn't have taken it home from the library without reading the first few pages.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      I am reminded of the importance of starting a novel with a strong inciting event. This novel did not hook me at all.
  2. The Seven-per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer (1974)
    • When did I start reading this book? Feb. 28, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? Mar. 2, 2010 - I did not finish.
    • Why did I choose this book? At some point in my life, the thought of Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud "together again for the first time" intrigued me.
    • So, how was it?
      Now, the thought of Holmes and Freud together seems cheesy to me, perhaps because I have my own thoughts on Holmes' psychology and find Freud to be generally wrong. But I could have gone through with the book if the writing was good. It's not. The levels of "meta" also got in the way. This is Meyer writing, pretending that this was a manuscript of Watson's, whose psuedonym was Arthur Conan Doyle. There was some effort to justify the inconsistencies in Doyle's works, through Watson's voice. To me, that's un-needed. *That* isn't an interesting story.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Always be aware of what story you're telling and how you're telling it. The telling shouldn't get in the way.

      I decided to go back and read a couple classic Doyle stories: "The Final Problem" and  "The Adventure of the Empty House". These aren't exactly iconic stories in terms of structure, but they are ones that are important in the realm of third-party works. These are where Doyle kills off Holmes and bring him back. It's often referred to a the Great Hiatus.

      It's been years (a decade?) since I read these two stories. I hadn't realized the the beginning of The Seven-per-Cent Solution was a direct, in some cases word-for-word, retelling of the beginning of "The Final Problem."* What puzzles me is this: why, if these two pieces of fiction are nearly the same, is Doyle's compelling and Meyer's is not? What are the differences? Is it a matter of story immediacy? Is it that I know Meyer has an ulterior motive in setting up that story that way (although I had kind of forgotten about the deranged Holmes being sent to Freud plot)? Doyle's writing still captured me even though I knew what was going on and had recently read Meyer's version.

      Comparing the similar section of Meyer's The Seven-per-Cent Solution and Doyle's "The Final Problem," I notice that Doyle uses dialogue (with very few tags) almost exclusively in his telling. And indeed, it is mostly *telling* and not *showing*, but it is the characters that are doing the speaking and as readers we are given more than enough details about what's going on without getting prose heavy. I had not noticed this about Doyle in the past. 
  3. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (2005)
    • When did I start reading this book? April 10, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? April 10, 2010; Didn't finish
    • Why did I choose this book? I enjoyed the first Dexter novel. I've enjoyed Dexter on TV.
    • So, how was it? I though I wanted to read another Dexter book. It turns out that I don't.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer? It started kind of slow.

  4. The Bedeviled by Thomas Cullinan (1974)

    • When did I start reading this book? April 10, 2010
    • When did I stop? Did I finish? April 12, 2010; Didn't finish.
    • Why did I choose this book? Been wanting to read some Cullinan for a long while. In the mood for a good ghost story.
    • So, how was it?
      It totally lacked tension.
    • Learn anything good? You know, as a writer?
      Spoilers don't have to be a bad thing. While I enjoy a twist ending as much as the next person, a spoiler doesn't necessarily ruin a story for me. I knew what the deal was with The Crying Game. I had the ending of Gone, Baby, Gone revealed to me in an interview with Ben Affleck. In both cases, getting to those plot points were as interesting as the points themselves. And "spoilers" are something that get used in fiction occasionally as a story-telling tool. There might be an actual name for this device, but I've either forgotten it or never knew it. I'm not talking about foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is subtle. This is not. I also with I could come up with a literary example of this working, because I'm sure that it does. It does not work in Thomas Cullinan's The Bedeviled.

      I've been wanting to read Cullinan. The Beguiled is an excellent Southern gothic movie and the novel it was based on was mentioned by Stephen King in his treatise on horror, Danse Macabre. (The movie also provided inspiration for Lucinda at the Window.) So, I've been keeping an eye out for Cullinan. He's not easy to find. When The Bedeviled presented itself on PaperbackSwap, I snatched it. And was disappointed. The story begins at an ending and uses a "I should have known..." tone. We learn that bad things have happened to the narrator and her daughter. Her husband and son are dead. It's due to the family estate. This is chapter one. Since we know the end, more or less, the journey needs to be the compelling part. It isn't. I didn't finish this book. There was no tension in the events, the characters were pretty bone-headed, and I was annoyed by the "had to stay in the house because all other options were mysteriously (conveniently) blocked" routine.