If you look over at my reading list on the sidebar, you'll notice that I don't read a lot of adult fiction. It's not that I don't enjoy it, or find it richly rewarding--I do--but I have so much children's and YA literature to catch up on that I often don't find the time. Lately, though, I've discovered something I do have time for: short story podcasts. Have you discovered these? My favorite is the New Yorker fiction podcast: once a month, a writer who has recently published in the magazine selects a story from the archive, reads it aloud, and then discusses it with the fiction editor, Deborah Treisman. This month, for example, you can hear Louise Erdrich read the Lorrie Moore story, "Dance in America." I've got several months' worth archived on my iPod now, and I listen to them in the car when I've got it to myself. Yesterday as I was driving to pick Mark up from work I heard Donald Antrim read Donald Barthelme's "I Bought a Little City," and I found myself laughing out loud at the absurd little story. I need to go read it now, and see how much of my response was due to Antrim's terrifically dry reading, and how much the story itself. But all of the stories I've heard so far really lend themselves to reading out loud, and I've really enjoyed hearing them come alive in this way.
It's a lot of fun to hear writers read and talk about other writers--their discussions of the stories afterwards are almost as interesting as the stories themselves, as when Deborah Treisman told Antonya Nelson some of the background to the Mavis Gallant story, "When We Were Nearly Young." Sometimes the contemporary writers dig pretty deep into the archives; recently I heard Jonathan Lethem read James Thurber's "The Wood Duck," and before that I heard E. L. Doctorow read John O'Hara's "Graven Image." And sometimes the pairings are as intriguing as the stories--what made Jhumpa Lahiri choose William Trevor's short story, "A Day"? Right now I'm listening to Junot Diaz reading his own story, “How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie),” which Edwidge Danticat chose, and I'm looking forward to my drive home to get a little further into it.
You can subscribe to the New Yorker fiction podcast over iTunes or XML, or just listen online.
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Larklight
I just finished Larklight, by Philip Reeve, and I am kicking myself for not reading it sooner! (Of course, the advantage of waiting is that the sequel, Starcross, is already out. The third book comes out in November.) It's been on my TBR list forever, but somehow I was easily discouraged when I didn't find it the first time I looked for it. Then I was in the library looking for something entirely different (um, Eclipse, hangs head), and there it was.
And here's what's in it: Victorian space travel. Giant spiders. All kinds of amazing aliens. The Crystal Palace. Space pirates. The British Empire, extended into space. Orphans. Or maybe not. And a Victorian brother and sister who start out fulfilling their stereotypical roles, and end up...not. Oh, it's wonderful.
Now off to find Starcross...
And here's what's in it: Victorian space travel. Giant spiders. All kinds of amazing aliens. The Crystal Palace. Space pirates. The British Empire, extended into space. Orphans. Or maybe not. And a Victorian brother and sister who start out fulfilling their stereotypical roles, and end up...not. Oh, it's wonderful.
Now off to find Starcross...
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Happy Birthday
It's the birthday today of both Charles Dickens and Laura Ingalls Wilder,* two writers who are so essential to my idea of literature that it seems oddly fitting that they share a birthday.
There's lots of controversy about Wilder, and I won't rehearse it here. Yes, the books celebrate a kind of independence that her family didn't really share--that was, in fact, never really true. And yes, they represent an attitude towards Native Americans that is--and was--reprehensible. For me, though, the books were about being the brown-haired one, messy, irresponsible one and still being the heroine (I didn't know it, but maybe Laura was channeling Maggie Tulliver). And, as I'm pretty sure I've said before, they were about food. I have a hard time reading them now, I confess. But they were such a part of my childhood reading--they taught me so much about narrative and development (and food) that it's hard for me to abandon them entirely.
Dickens, too, is about food and scarcity and all kinds of appetites. I didn't read him at all until high school, though I'm pretty sure I was familiar with A Christmas Carol before then. And he wasn't really a children's book writer--but his ideas about children are so formative, still, that he can't be ignored. Dickens predates Freud in his emphasis on the significance of childhood trauma in adult psychology--and while Dickens can't be credited as the first to recognize the connection (we can look to Wordsworth's "the child is father of the man" for another neat literary articulation of it), he certainly participates in developing the ideology of childhood that we still inhabit today.
*It's also the birthday of Sir Thomas More and Ashton Kutcher, but I have nothing to say about them. Isn't astrology wonderful?
There's lots of controversy about Wilder, and I won't rehearse it here. Yes, the books celebrate a kind of independence that her family didn't really share--that was, in fact, never really true. And yes, they represent an attitude towards Native Americans that is--and was--reprehensible. For me, though, the books were about being the brown-haired one, messy, irresponsible one and still being the heroine (I didn't know it, but maybe Laura was channeling Maggie Tulliver). And, as I'm pretty sure I've said before, they were about food. I have a hard time reading them now, I confess. But they were such a part of my childhood reading--they taught me so much about narrative and development (and food) that it's hard for me to abandon them entirely.
Dickens, too, is about food and scarcity and all kinds of appetites. I didn't read him at all until high school, though I'm pretty sure I was familiar with A Christmas Carol before then. And he wasn't really a children's book writer--but his ideas about children are so formative, still, that he can't be ignored. Dickens predates Freud in his emphasis on the significance of childhood trauma in adult psychology--and while Dickens can't be credited as the first to recognize the connection (we can look to Wordsworth's "the child is father of the man" for another neat literary articulation of it), he certainly participates in developing the ideology of childhood that we still inhabit today.
*It's also the birthday of Sir Thomas More and Ashton Kutcher, but I have nothing to say about them. Isn't astrology wonderful?
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
More free books
Overwhelmed with Joy is hosting another Pay it Forward book exchange, and this month she's giving away two books, both of which I want: Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Even though I want to win one of them--and therefore should be trying to keep the number of entries down--I want you to have a chance, too. So go on over and check it out!
Then come back here next week, when I'll be giving away The Noah Confessions, by Barbara Hall.
Friday, September 28, 2007
John Green in Richmond
Tricia has summed up last night's talk so well, I'm just going to point you to her post. Eventually, I'll be writing up my own report for The Edge of the Forest, but it will be hard not to steal from her!
Friday, September 21, 2007
in 200 days...
For immediate release on Friday 21st September 2007
David Fickling Books to Publish New Philip Pullman Story
David Fickling Books is delighted to announce the worldwide publication of Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman, a beguiling and intriguing new episode from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials universe
A new and completely original episode from Philip Pullman’s bestselling His Dark Materials universe will be published on 3rd April 2008 by David Fickling Books Ltd, part of The Random House Group in the UK. The book, Once Upon a Time in the North, opens another extraordinary window into the universe of His Dark Materials, and is Philip’s first new work for five years.
Once Upon a Time in the North will appear under the David Fickling Books imprint in the UK and will be published in association with Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books in the USA.
Once Upon a Time in the North is a companion volume to Lyra’s Oxford (though about double the length of that story) and, like that work, set in Lyra Belacqua’s world and not our own.
The events of Once Upon a Time in the North happen before Lyra was born and in it we meet two of the most popular and enduring of Philip’s characters, the tough American balloonist Lee Scoresby and the great armoured bear and Lyra’s guardian, Iorek Byrnison. The story recounts the very first meeting of these two heroes, an encounter eagerly awaited by all Pullman fans. Lee Scoresby and his hare daemon, Hester, crash land their trading balloon on to Novy Odense, a port in the far Arctic North, and so find themselves right in the middle of a political powder keg that threatens to explode into a street-fight. Honour is at stake and Lee is not a man to duck a matter of honour. And this is the very first time that Lee gets to use his trusty and celebrated Winchester rifle . . .
Like Lyra’s Oxford, the story is presented as an exquisitely designed cloth-bound book and includes many other teasingly authentic memorabilia and clues from the His Dark Materials universe gathered together, it seems, by Lyra herself. This includes photographs, newspaper cuttings, bills of lading and an exciting and gorgeous Arctic Balloonist Board Game, Challenge the Wind, all beautifully illustrated and rendered by master engraver John Lawrence.
Philip Pullman says, “Writing this story was a matter of pure enjoyment. The two characters at the heart of it, Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison, were old comrades-in-arms when Lyra met them first in Northern Lights. It was obvious that they had a history, and it was my son Jamie who first suggested that I should write about it. When David Fickling had the idea of doing that in a similar format to Lyra’s Oxford I leapt at the idea at once. I hope readers will enjoy this tale of the first meeting between these two honourable but down-at-heel adventurers.”
Philip Pullman is one of the most highly acclaimed authors of our time. Worldwide sales of over 15 million copies reflect the enormous global appeal of His Dark Materials. He has won the Whitbread Book of the Year (The Amber Spyglass), Carnegie Medal (Northern Lights) and the Guardian Prize (The Amber Spyglass). He is also a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award for Services to Children’s Literature and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s largest children’s literature prize.
He is the author of over 20 books and two plays. He lives near Oxford, England.
David Fickling says, “A brand-new, completely original piece of Philip Pullman storytelling is one of the most exciting publishing events imaginable, and doubly so this time because with Once Upon a Time in the North Philip is on absolutely top form.”
A major film of The Golden Compass (Northern Lights) starring Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman will be released by New Line this autumn.
Once Upon a Time in the North will be published in the UK by David Fickling Books on 3rd April 2008 and in the US by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on 8th April 2008.
Lyra’s Oxford will be published into paperback by Corgi on 1st November 2007 at £4.99, and is currently available in hardback from David Fickling Books.
For further information please contact:
In the UK – Philippa Dickinson tel: 020 8231 6628
In the US – Judith Haut tel: (212) 782-8626
David Fickling Books to Publish New Philip Pullman Story
David Fickling Books is delighted to announce the worldwide publication of Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman, a beguiling and intriguing new episode from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials universe
A new and completely original episode from Philip Pullman’s bestselling His Dark Materials universe will be published on 3rd April 2008 by David Fickling Books Ltd, part of The Random House Group in the UK. The book, Once Upon a Time in the North, opens another extraordinary window into the universe of His Dark Materials, and is Philip’s first new work for five years.
Once Upon a Time in the North will appear under the David Fickling Books imprint in the UK and will be published in association with Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books in the USA.
Once Upon a Time in the North is a companion volume to Lyra’s Oxford (though about double the length of that story) and, like that work, set in Lyra Belacqua’s world and not our own.
The events of Once Upon a Time in the North happen before Lyra was born and in it we meet two of the most popular and enduring of Philip’s characters, the tough American balloonist Lee Scoresby and the great armoured bear and Lyra’s guardian, Iorek Byrnison. The story recounts the very first meeting of these two heroes, an encounter eagerly awaited by all Pullman fans. Lee Scoresby and his hare daemon, Hester, crash land their trading balloon on to Novy Odense, a port in the far Arctic North, and so find themselves right in the middle of a political powder keg that threatens to explode into a street-fight. Honour is at stake and Lee is not a man to duck a matter of honour. And this is the very first time that Lee gets to use his trusty and celebrated Winchester rifle . . .
Like Lyra’s Oxford, the story is presented as an exquisitely designed cloth-bound book and includes many other teasingly authentic memorabilia and clues from the His Dark Materials universe gathered together, it seems, by Lyra herself. This includes photographs, newspaper cuttings, bills of lading and an exciting and gorgeous Arctic Balloonist Board Game, Challenge the Wind, all beautifully illustrated and rendered by master engraver John Lawrence.
Philip Pullman says, “Writing this story was a matter of pure enjoyment. The two characters at the heart of it, Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison, were old comrades-in-arms when Lyra met them first in Northern Lights. It was obvious that they had a history, and it was my son Jamie who first suggested that I should write about it. When David Fickling had the idea of doing that in a similar format to Lyra’s Oxford I leapt at the idea at once. I hope readers will enjoy this tale of the first meeting between these two honourable but down-at-heel adventurers.”
Philip Pullman is one of the most highly acclaimed authors of our time. Worldwide sales of over 15 million copies reflect the enormous global appeal of His Dark Materials. He has won the Whitbread Book of the Year (The Amber Spyglass), Carnegie Medal (Northern Lights) and the Guardian Prize (The Amber Spyglass). He is also a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award for Services to Children’s Literature and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s largest children’s literature prize.
He is the author of over 20 books and two plays. He lives near Oxford, England.
David Fickling says, “A brand-new, completely original piece of Philip Pullman storytelling is one of the most exciting publishing events imaginable, and doubly so this time because with Once Upon a Time in the North Philip is on absolutely top form.”
A major film of The Golden Compass (Northern Lights) starring Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman will be released by New Line this autumn.
Once Upon a Time in the North will be published in the UK by David Fickling Books on 3rd April 2008 and in the US by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on 8th April 2008.
Lyra’s Oxford will be published into paperback by Corgi on 1st November 2007 at £4.99, and is currently available in hardback from David Fickling Books.
For further information please contact:
In the UK – Philippa Dickinson tel: 020 8231 6628
In the US – Judith Haut tel: (212) 782-8626
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Blog Book Tour: Maximum Ride
(Cross-posted at Midlife Mama)So I was talking about YA fiction the other day, and how I didn't have it to read when I was (ahem) a young adult. So I'm making up for it now, and my latest foray was James Patterson's Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. As my earlier reading choices indicate, I was and am a sucker for plot: move it fast and I'm yours for the ride. A little mystery and a little romance are good, too. Maximum Ride has all of the above. It reads, indeed, like you're watching a movie: every scene can be visualized, every encounter moves the plot forward. It's exciting and fun, and it's absolutely meant for kids from about 12 to 16. (Nick, who just turned ten, started it, but I found his bookmark on page 54, right where the first kiss takes place He swears that's not why he stopped reading, but he also hasn't asked for it back.)
Saving the World is book three of Patterson's Maximum Ride series, but I found it easy enough to start here with a narrator who helpfully brings readers up to speed this way:
Those of you who picked up this book cold, even though it's clearly part three of a series, well, get with the program, people! I can't take two days to get you all caught up on everything! Here's the abbreviated version (which is pretty good, I might add)…
Max, the titular character (yes, Maximum Ride is a name), narrates about half the chapters, with the others going to an omniscient narrator who's able to fill us in on the action that takes place out of Max's sight. And there's plenty: winged kids, werewolves, a talking dog, telepathy, cloning, and blogging (yes! Blogging as a plot point!) keep the story moving forward. There's an appealing cast of characters, though I did have trouble keeping a few of them straight at first (with names like Fang, Iggy, Angel, Gasman and Nudge, they did all run together at times--particularly Nudge, whom I'd completely forgotten until I picked up the book to refresh my memory). And while the "evil scientist wants to rule the world" storyline has been done before, and while the evil scientist lapses into explanatory mode much in the manner of a James Bond villain, and to similar effect (allowing our heroes enough time to reflect and perhaps save themselves) a little too often, still the overall effect is exciting and fun. The short chapters (2-3 pages) contribute to the sense of urgency and speed. I might quibble with the snarky knowingness of the narrative, which too often addresses the reader in a somewhat postmodern "this is all a fiction, right?" way, but I have to admit I also find it fun--and, more to the point, I think a lot of teen readers will.
This book is pure escapism. It'll make a great movie (and I can't wait to see the special effects.) Sure, there's a message--"kids can make a difference"--but the pleasure of the book is in the action and the characters--and that's a considerab
le pleasure.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Something New
I did something I've never done before a few weeks ago: I served as a judge in a fiction contest. It was fun! I read a bunch of short stories, then met with the other judges to choose the winners. Over coffee and pastries we read and discussed and came up with three winners, which were announced today. I'm just back from hearing the authors read them (well, two of them: the first place winner just left town to enter an MFA program) and the reading was terrific and well-attended. So congratulations, winners!
I know this isn't children's lit stuff (truly, it isn't--read the stories!), but it still merits a mention here.
I know this isn't children's lit stuff (truly, it isn't--read the stories!), but it still merits a mention here.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Get a Free Book!
OK, I'm in. I'm joining the Pay it Forward Book Exchange, initiated by Overwhelmed by Joy. All the cool kids are doing it: Caroline, cloudscome at A Wrung Sponge, Kelly from Big A, little a, and now me. What a great concept! Here's the deal: I get a lot of books, one way and another, and after I've read them I don't always need to keep them around. So once a month (or so) I'll give one away. Just leave me a note in comments that you want to enter, and next week I'll draw a name out and send the winner the book. Easy-peasy, right?
Here's how Overwhelmed describes it:
Most all of us love to read and get “new-to-us” books, right? And if you’re anything like me, you love winning things (what a rush), not to mention getting fun stuff in the mail! So here’s what this book exchange is all about:
1) Once a month I'll pick a book to give away to one lucky reader (you don’t have to have a blog to enter). It may be a book that I’ve purchased new or used, or it may be a book that someone has shared with me that I really like. It’ll probably be a paperback, just to make things easier, but no guarantees.
2) Details on how you can enter to win will be listed below.
3) If you’re the lucky winner of the book giveaway and you have your own blog I ask that you, you in turn, host a drawing to give that book away for free to one of your readers, after you’ve had a chance to read it (let’s say, within a month after you’ve received the book). If you mail the book out using the media/book rate that the post office offers it’s pretty inexpensive. If you're a non-blogger who has won the book, please consider donating the book to your local library or shelter after you're done with it.
4) If you’re really motivated and want to host your own “Pay It Forward” giveaway at any time, feel free to grab the button above to use on your own blog. Just let me [that would be Overwhelmed] know so I can publish a post on my blog plugging your giveaway and directing my readers your way!
OK? So, this month, I have a copy of John Green's fabulous, Printz-Award-winning Looking for Alaska to give away. (If you live in Central VA, by the way, he's coming to speak at the University of Richmond at the end of September.) This is a terrific YA novel, an astonishing debut novel by a writer who has a great career ahead of him. So let me know if you want a copy and I'll be sending one out in a week.
(I got this promotional copy from his publisher, Penguin, by the way. I'll probably have a few more Penguin books to give away in the future, too.)
Again: leave me a comment by August 16, and you could get a copy of Looking for Alaska.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Hey, writers--
My friend Masha Hamilton is teaching two ten-week novel-writing classes this fall--don't they look great?
Take a ten-week novel-writing class online from Masha.
Dates: Sept. 4 through Nov. 13.
Novel Writing I is right for any writer who has been thinking about starting a novel or is up to halfway through. The class will include weekly lectures, critiques, and exercises aimed at helping you see your work freshly. We'll motivate you as we cover discovering the essence of your novel (and learning how to convey it in a single sentence), as well as the importance of the opening chapter. We’ll discuss where to start the story, how to create a strong protagonist, the dramatic arcs of major characters, choosing a point of view, and exploring the voice of your novel as well as individual characters within it. We'll analyze scene and delve into the dramatic possibilities created by strong dialogue. We'll also look at setting, pacing, profluence and psychic distance. Finally, we’ll consider the business end – where and how to market your novel manuscript – and you’ll get guidance on the next step. Limited to 10-15 students. $500 for ten weeks.
Novel Writing II is for the writer who has more than half of a novel completed and is looking for a critical, helpful eye before the manuscript reaches the agent or editor. In this class, more of your work will be critiqued, and you will be called upon to write detailed weekly critiques yourself. Lectures will spring more naturally from the nature of the work. We'll talk about motivation in the soggy middle of our manuscripts. This will be a chance to workshop a large portion of your completed work, and resubmit if you choose. We'll focus on the skills of revision and layering your novel, as well as how to become our own teachers, learning by reading the work of others. The class also will include guidance on what to do once the manuscript is finished. Limited to 6-10 students. $650 for ten weeks.
Classes are small to allow for lots of individual attention to manuscripts. Please email Masha at masha at mashahamilton dot com for more details about either class.
----------------------------
Masha has taught novel-writing privately, on-line, and for Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, 92nd Street Y/Makor in New York City, Ann Arbor Writers’ Workshop in Ann Arbor, MI, Pima Writers’ Workshop in Tucson, AZ, Willamette Writers in Portland, OR., Ocean Park Maine Writers’ Conference near Portland, ME., Poets and Writers League, Cleveland, OH, and others.
Take a ten-week novel-writing class online from Masha.
Dates: Sept. 4 through Nov. 13.
Novel Writing I is right for any writer who has been thinking about starting a novel or is up to halfway through. The class will include weekly lectures, critiques, and exercises aimed at helping you see your work freshly. We'll motivate you as we cover discovering the essence of your novel (and learning how to convey it in a single sentence), as well as the importance of the opening chapter. We’ll discuss where to start the story, how to create a strong protagonist, the dramatic arcs of major characters, choosing a point of view, and exploring the voice of your novel as well as individual characters within it. We'll analyze scene and delve into the dramatic possibilities created by strong dialogue. We'll also look at setting, pacing, profluence and psychic distance. Finally, we’ll consider the business end – where and how to market your novel manuscript – and you’ll get guidance on the next step. Limited to 10-15 students. $500 for ten weeks.
Novel Writing II is for the writer who has more than half of a novel completed and is looking for a critical, helpful eye before the manuscript reaches the agent or editor. In this class, more of your work will be critiqued, and you will be called upon to write detailed weekly critiques yourself. Lectures will spring more naturally from the nature of the work. We'll talk about motivation in the soggy middle of our manuscripts. This will be a chance to workshop a large portion of your completed work, and resubmit if you choose. We'll focus on the skills of revision and layering your novel, as well as how to become our own teachers, learning by reading the work of others. The class also will include guidance on what to do once the manuscript is finished. Limited to 6-10 students. $650 for ten weeks.
Classes are small to allow for lots of individual attention to manuscripts. Please email Masha at masha at mashahamilton dot com for more details about either class.
----------------------------
Masha has taught novel-writing privately, on-line, and for Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, 92nd Street Y/Makor in New York City, Ann Arbor Writers’ Workshop in Ann Arbor, MI, Pima Writers’ Workshop in Tucson, AZ, Willamette Writers in Portland, OR., Ocean Park Maine Writers’ Conference near Portland, ME., Poets and Writers League, Cleveland, OH, and others.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
outsmarted myself
I pre-ordered HPVII in February, so I'd have it without having to go to the trouble of the midnight book party. Smart, right?
I checked online around 10 this morning, wondering why UPS hadn't brought it here yet, and saw that it had been delivered yesterday (what's up with that?) and signed for by Murray. Murray? I yelped--it's been stolen!
But no. I had it delivered to work. Yeah. Which is, um, closed today. Someone in some office signed for it yesterday, but it didn't make it to my building.
So I did what any rational person would do and went straight to B&N. (I'll need a teaching and/or research copy anyway, right? Rationalization is my friend.) Started reading at about 11:30, and just finished.
No spoilers here, though I will say that despite the flaws (see the comments over at Raising WEG and Phantom Scribbler) I enjoyed it. I laughed (probably for the first time since about book 3, honestly), I cried (totally a sucker for the expressions of love), I gobbled it up. Yes, there are things that are predictable about it, and yes, I think it got a little exposition-y right at the end, but honestly (ducking now) I think I'll re-read this far more happily than LOTR, which simply annoys me now.
OH! And, for the record, Mrs. Weasley rocks.
I checked online around 10 this morning, wondering why UPS hadn't brought it here yet, and saw that it had been delivered yesterday (what's up with that?) and signed for by Murray. Murray? I yelped--it's been stolen!
But no. I had it delivered to work. Yeah. Which is, um, closed today. Someone in some office signed for it yesterday, but it didn't make it to my building.
So I did what any rational person would do and went straight to B&N. (I'll need a teaching and/or research copy anyway, right? Rationalization is my friend.) Started reading at about 11:30, and just finished.
No spoilers here, though I will say that despite the flaws (see the comments over at Raising WEG and Phantom Scribbler) I enjoyed it. I laughed (probably for the first time since about book 3, honestly), I cried (totally a sucker for the expressions of love), I gobbled it up. Yes, there are things that are predictable about it, and yes, I think it got a little exposition-y right at the end, but honestly (ducking now) I think I'll re-read this far more happily than LOTR, which simply annoys me now.
OH! And, for the record, Mrs. Weasley rocks.
Friday, July 20, 2007
the last one, I think...
I can't promise this is the last HP-related thing I'll put up here before I read the novel, but I'm trying. I'm actually working on my paper for August (finally!) and this is the purest procrastination. But so funny!
The brilliant Hank Green sings about his need for the next book...
The brilliant Hank Green sings about his need for the next book...
too funny
I don't know why I missed this one when it was posted, but Maureen Johnson has the best HP ending story I've read. Really, never mind Michiko Kakutani's almost-spoiler-ish review, just read this. And then read this, her follow-up. I promise, no real spoilers in the Maureen Johnson stuff, just good fun.
In the meantime I'm hoping I finish China Mieville's Un Lun Dun today so I can clear the decks for HP VII tomorrow. I think I first heard about it on Big A, Little A, though I also read the Salon review by Laura Miller. As so often happens, I had forgotten what I'd read about it by the time I picked it up, so the Phantom Tollbooth resonances came as a surprise (despite the fact that Laura Miller notes them as well). It's a fabulous read, a more than worthy pre-read to the upcoming adverb-fest (ssh, I do love the HP books, but you've got to have noticed the prose getting flatter and flatter...).
In the meantime I'm hoping I finish China Mieville's Un Lun Dun today so I can clear the decks for HP VII tomorrow. I think I first heard about it on Big A, Little A, though I also read the Salon review by Laura Miller. As so often happens, I had forgotten what I'd read about it by the time I picked it up, so the Phantom Tollbooth resonances came as a surprise (despite the fact that Laura Miller notes them as well). It's a fabulous read, a more than worthy pre-read to the upcoming adverb-fest (ssh, I do love the HP books, but you've got to have noticed the prose getting flatter and flatter...).
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
and a little more
Mrs. Coulter (in comments) pointed me to a nice blog post (or two) by the editors of Harry Potter and International Relations (referred to somewhat sneeringly in the piece I linked to below). And here's a pretty good piece from USA Today that quotes Phil Nel and Karin Westman, great children's lit scholars at Kansas State.
There's lots more, of course, including the nice (if short) interview with Cheryl Klein on Talk of the Nation, and a bunch of other stuff that I'm too lazy to look up again now. You can find it, you're smart!
There's lots more, of course, including the nice (if short) interview with Cheryl Klein on Talk of the Nation, and a bunch of other stuff that I'm too lazy to look up again now. You can find it, you're smart!
More summer reading, and some Harry stuff
I've added a few more books to the sidebar since that last post, but it's true that my reading has slowed down a bit. We've had visitors to host, weddings to go to, kids to ferry...and then, I did re-read books I-VI of the Harry Potter series. Nick is within 100 pages of finishing his re-reading, too, which means it looks like he'll get the 7th book before Mariah. (I may have some trouble enforcing that...)
I've also been reading around some of the pre-Potter hype here and there (and contributing to it). This recent piece in Inside Higher Ed annoys me--why is it ok to write about Harry Potter without having read a single one of the books? I agree with McLemee that our job as educators is to introduce students to the world beyond "the familiar, the readily available, the comfortingly familiar"--one way to do that, as he surely knows, is to subject what seems familiar to close analysis, to study its pre-texts and sub-texts (as the students he's referring to quite obviously are doing), to read it against the grain. Teaching children's literature is one of the most rewarding teaching experiences I have, for precisely that reason: students learn to open their eyes and explore the strangeness in the world they've taken for granted.
I'm not staying up until midnight for the next book--I pre-ordered it months ago and will be happy to see it on my doorstep Saturday morning. (I am tempted by the party at BookPeople, though!) I haven't seen any of the films since the second one. I'm not dressing up as Luna Lovegood. But I'm not apologizing, either, for spending a chunk of my summer reading and re-reading Rowling, and I'll be taking a little break to speed through Book VII this weekend. How about you?
I've also been reading around some of the pre-Potter hype here and there (and contributing to it). This recent piece in Inside Higher Ed annoys me--why is it ok to write about Harry Potter without having read a single one of the books? I agree with McLemee that our job as educators is to introduce students to the world beyond "the familiar, the readily available, the comfortingly familiar"--one way to do that, as he surely knows, is to subject what seems familiar to close analysis, to study its pre-texts and sub-texts (as the students he's referring to quite obviously are doing), to read it against the grain. Teaching children's literature is one of the most rewarding teaching experiences I have, for precisely that reason: students learn to open their eyes and explore the strangeness in the world they've taken for granted.
I'm not staying up until midnight for the next book--I pre-ordered it months ago and will be happy to see it on my doorstep Saturday morning. (I am tempted by the party at BookPeople, though!) I haven't seen any of the films since the second one. I'm not dressing up as Luna Lovegood. But I'm not apologizing, either, for spending a chunk of my summer reading and re-reading Rowling, and I'll be taking a little break to speed through Book VII this weekend. How about you?
Monday, June 25, 2007
On Romance
Justine Larbalestier has a great discussion going on her blog about romance. I commented there, but I kept thinking about it last night and this morning and I found I had more to say. There are lots of comments there, so go read them, and then you can come back.
OK? So: I agree with Jenny Davidson and Libba Bray, I find, in liking banter and an initial mis-alignment or problem. (Jenny calls it "painful misunderstanding," and that's just right.) But what I most want, I think, is a couple that learns from each other and grows. I also like--as several other commenters noted--some kind of equality. Thus I prefer Elizabeth and Darcy to Emma and Knightley--Knightley just doesn't (need to) change as much as Emma does, and he remains superior to her throughout, whereas Darcy and Elizabeth both need to shed their preconceptions and grow. I am also less invested in the brooding lovers--the Heathcliff and Cathy types--because they don't change or grow. Heathcliff is the same throughout--eternal, unchanging, as Cathy says of their love--and that just doesn't do it for me. Theirs seems to me an adolescent love, and I'm just not that interested in that. Or, to put it better: I don't find it romantic. I think adolescent love can be well depicted in literature--most YA literature deals with crushes and intense first love rather than mature commitment, after all, and that's entirely appropriate--but while I'm happy to read about that when it's done well (The Magic or Madness trilogy does that nicely, in fact, with Reason's attraction to Danny), I don't find it romantic.
The couple in Megan Whalen Turner's Thief books seem potentially brooding and unchanging, and one of the pleasures of that series is finding out how much they are both growing without quite demonstrating it. Which is why for me Lord Peter and Harriet are also such a romantic couple--the growth they demonstrate over several novels makes them believable, makes them a couple to root for.
I'm a little surprised that no one mentioned Gone with the Wind in the comments over there. The more I thought about the question the more I think Rhett and Scarlett fit the bill as well: she has to grow up and give up her romantic ideal of boring Ashley Wilkes, and he has to rein in his cynicism and admit there's something that motivates him beyond self-interest. They are right for each other without knowing it, and they keep getting it wrong. The fact that they can't ever be in love with each other at the same time is what makes the novel tragic rather than comic, of course, and I tend to prefer the comic (and, yes, there's all sorts of baggage with Gone with the Wind that I'm not talking about right now). But it is romantic, absolutely.
OK? So: I agree with Jenny Davidson and Libba Bray, I find, in liking banter and an initial mis-alignment or problem. (Jenny calls it "painful misunderstanding," and that's just right.) But what I most want, I think, is a couple that learns from each other and grows. I also like--as several other commenters noted--some kind of equality. Thus I prefer Elizabeth and Darcy to Emma and Knightley--Knightley just doesn't (need to) change as much as Emma does, and he remains superior to her throughout, whereas Darcy and Elizabeth both need to shed their preconceptions and grow. I am also less invested in the brooding lovers--the Heathcliff and Cathy types--because they don't change or grow. Heathcliff is the same throughout--eternal, unchanging, as Cathy says of their love--and that just doesn't do it for me. Theirs seems to me an adolescent love, and I'm just not that interested in that. Or, to put it better: I don't find it romantic. I think adolescent love can be well depicted in literature--most YA literature deals with crushes and intense first love rather than mature commitment, after all, and that's entirely appropriate--but while I'm happy to read about that when it's done well (The Magic or Madness trilogy does that nicely, in fact, with Reason's attraction to Danny), I don't find it romantic.
The couple in Megan Whalen Turner's Thief books seem potentially brooding and unchanging, and one of the pleasures of that series is finding out how much they are both growing without quite demonstrating it. Which is why for me Lord Peter and Harriet are also such a romantic couple--the growth they demonstrate over several novels makes them believable, makes them a couple to root for.
I'm a little surprised that no one mentioned Gone with the Wind in the comments over there. The more I thought about the question the more I think Rhett and Scarlett fit the bill as well: she has to grow up and give up her romantic ideal of boring Ashley Wilkes, and he has to rein in his cynicism and admit there's something that motivates him beyond self-interest. They are right for each other without knowing it, and they keep getting it wrong. The fact that they can't ever be in love with each other at the same time is what makes the novel tragic rather than comic, of course, and I tend to prefer the comic (and, yes, there's all sorts of baggage with Gone with the Wind that I'm not talking about right now). But it is romantic, absolutely.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Tolstoy Lied
OK, so Becca didn't like this book much, but I actually thought it was a fun read. No, the tenure battle wasn't particularly convincing (the process just didn't ring true to me), and one of the friends--for me, not the gay colleague but the actress-friend--was a bit too much, but I liked the main character and found her "love" story intriguing enough, and her "work" story compelling. A friend recommended the novel on the strength of the crazy grad student plot, and that did work for me: the way the colleagues battle by proxy through the grad student, the way the grad student herself participates in their battles, the way each small utterance takes on such great significance...yes, I bought it. And I'm intrigued, too, by the idea that we don't know how to talk about happiness. A professor at UCLA tried working on happiness some years back--and, you know, I don't know whatever happened to that project! (OK, it came out in ADE Bulletin...) Mark and I often complain that all we do is complain (yes, we're aware...)--but, really, what are literary critics trained to do except spot problems? Student writing or literary reading, we go for what doesn't work, having a much harder time with praise than blame. So I like the idea of trying to trust happiness, trying to look for the ways that story can be told. No, I don't think this is the last word on it--but then again, have we had the last word on tragedy yet?
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Recent reading
It's hard to believe that the same person wrote I Capture the Castle and 101 Dalmations. Yes, both were made into successful movies, but I'm pretty sure the resemblance ends there. Smith was a successful playwright before moving into novels with I Capture the Castle in 1948. It's a terrific story of a blocked writer and his family--including two daughters who have a Jane Austen-like marriage plot. The opening line: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink" is enough to hook the reader in, and the narrator (and second daughter) is a consistently engaging voice. A writer herself, she and her younger brother conspire to break her father out of his writer's block while she and her older sister and stepmother work on the courtship story as well. The allusions to Austen are pervasive, but the novel also meditates on modern fiction, poetry, and the place of both ritual and writing in modern life. My copy came off the table at Barnes & Noble where they put things they're trying to move for summer (3 for the price of 2), with a blurb from J. K. Rowling on the cover, but other than the romance of the crumbling castle there's little to connect it to Rowling. (I just noted that Amazon recommends Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm and Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse for fans of Castle, and that seems just right...)
101 Dalmations (1956), on the other hand, Smith's first novel specifically for children, is--how can I put this kindly?--not as engaging. The limited omniscient narrator gives us--mostly--the point of view of the Dalmation parents, Pongo and Missis, and they are a pretty twee pair, honestly. Pongo is, we are repeatedly told, one of the brightest dogs in Britain (not only does he understand human language and concepts like right and left, he can read English as well), while Missis is more Barbie-esque: cute but dumb. Pongo's feelings for the surrogate parent-dog, Perdita, apparently caused Smith some concern--when Missis can't nurse all fifteen puppies, the Dearlys (their owners) fortuitously find another Dalmation mother who has lost her puppies to nurse half the litter, and Pongo, we are told, thinks of her as their second mother--though not as his second wife but rather a beloved younger sister. Yeah, because I was worried about that. Well, obviously she assumes kids would be, but it's a bizarre detail to go into, isn't it?
Throughout, the dog characters are far more interesting than the human characters, but it's really the secondary characters--the spaniel whose owner is too elderly to go out, the sheepdog whose charge is a two-year-old boy--who are the most intriguing, while Pongo and Missis seem like pure stereotypes: self-sacrificing parents, the strong handsome male and the loving beautiful female. There's an implicit pro-animal-rights message, of course (the bad guys are all about fur), but there are some big problems as well. For example, the evil Cruella deVil is consistently depicted in stark black-and-white, as if to suggest that the polarity itself is evil. But the novel engages in the same kind of polarity--Dalmations good, Cruella bad--reinscribing the black-and-white worldview that it might have seemed to reject. And don't even get me started on class, both with the treatment of servants among the humans, and mixed breeds among the dogs (we are told they're just as lovable as the purebreds, but we don't meet a single one).
Monica Edinger had a great post on animal fantasies a week or so ago in which she asked commenters to consider what makes a good or great one. I'd say this one uses the animals mostly as humans stand-ins (they marry, eat human food, read, and communicate in sophisticated ways--although that latter caveat may simply reveal my species-centrism) and the kind of humans they stand in for are rather simplistic and stereotyped. So, not great.
It's a quick read, and I remember enjoying the animated movie as a kid, but it's not in Castle's class. There's a sequel--The Starlight Barking--but I think I'll skip it.
101 Dalmations (1956), on the other hand, Smith's first novel specifically for children, is--how can I put this kindly?--not as engaging. The limited omniscient narrator gives us--mostly--the point of view of the Dalmation parents, Pongo and Missis, and they are a pretty twee pair, honestly. Pongo is, we are repeatedly told, one of the brightest dogs in Britain (not only does he understand human language and concepts like right and left, he can read English as well), while Missis is more Barbie-esque: cute but dumb. Pongo's feelings for the surrogate parent-dog, Perdita, apparently caused Smith some concern--when Missis can't nurse all fifteen puppies, the Dearlys (their owners) fortuitously find another Dalmation mother who has lost her puppies to nurse half the litter, and Pongo, we are told, thinks of her as their second mother--though not as his second wife but rather a beloved younger sister. Yeah, because I was worried about that. Well, obviously she assumes kids would be, but it's a bizarre detail to go into, isn't it?
Throughout, the dog characters are far more interesting than the human characters, but it's really the secondary characters--the spaniel whose owner is too elderly to go out, the sheepdog whose charge is a two-year-old boy--who are the most intriguing, while Pongo and Missis seem like pure stereotypes: self-sacrificing parents, the strong handsome male and the loving beautiful female. There's an implicit pro-animal-rights message, of course (the bad guys are all about fur), but there are some big problems as well. For example, the evil Cruella deVil is consistently depicted in stark black-and-white, as if to suggest that the polarity itself is evil. But the novel engages in the same kind of polarity--Dalmations good, Cruella bad--reinscribing the black-and-white worldview that it might have seemed to reject. And don't even get me started on class, both with the treatment of servants among the humans, and mixed breeds among the dogs (we are told they're just as lovable as the purebreds, but we don't meet a single one).
Monica Edinger had a great post on animal fantasies a week or so ago in which she asked commenters to consider what makes a good or great one. I'd say this one uses the animals mostly as humans stand-ins (they marry, eat human food, read, and communicate in sophisticated ways--although that latter caveat may simply reveal my species-centrism) and the kind of humans they stand in for are rather simplistic and stereotyped. So, not great.
It's a quick read, and I remember enjoying the animated movie as a kid, but it's not in Castle's class. There's a sequel--The Starlight Barking--but I think I'll skip it.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
things to read
Roger Sutton on didacticism in literature. (But read through the comments, too, for the proliferation of anonymi, for the difference between theme and didacticism, and for Tobin Anderson's interesting take on the issue.)
And then more on the same topic from Monica Edinger, over at Educating Alice. As Monica says, "Since I'm a teacher, I'm didactic." Amen! (But she has lots more to say, and more for you to read, really.)
If you haven't been reading Tricia's posts from China you could start now. The pictures alone would be worth the link. Later this summer I'm going to Japan, and I can tell you right now you won't get nearly the great posts from me that you're getting from her. It's hard for me to have an experience and document it at the same time. But she's doing a great job of it.
And then if you want to see some images from the graphic novel version of Coraline, you can. (I'm really excited about the movie, with "PC" from the fabulous Mac vs. PC ads, as the dad.)
Yes, I do need to read something other than blogs or magazines so I can talk about it here. I did read I Capture the Castle, noted over in the sidebar, and decided that it's probably not really a children's novel. Maybe YA. I found it on a table at B&N with Virginia Woolf, Khaled Hosseini, Alexander McCall, and plenty of other grown-up authors. It's got a front-cover blurb from J.K. Rowling, though. And the author, Dodie Smith, is perhaps best known for writing 101 Dalmations, next on my list...
And then more on the same topic from Monica Edinger, over at Educating Alice. As Monica says, "Since I'm a teacher, I'm didactic." Amen! (But she has lots more to say, and more for you to read, really.)
If you haven't been reading Tricia's posts from China you could start now. The pictures alone would be worth the link. Later this summer I'm going to Japan, and I can tell you right now you won't get nearly the great posts from me that you're getting from her. It's hard for me to have an experience and document it at the same time. But she's doing a great job of it.
And then if you want to see some images from the graphic novel version of Coraline, you can. (I'm really excited about the movie, with "PC" from the fabulous Mac vs. PC ads, as the dad.)
Yes, I do need to read something other than blogs or magazines so I can talk about it here. I did read I Capture the Castle, noted over in the sidebar, and decided that it's probably not really a children's novel. Maybe YA. I found it on a table at B&N with Virginia Woolf, Khaled Hosseini, Alexander McCall, and plenty of other grown-up authors. It's got a front-cover blurb from J.K. Rowling, though. And the author, Dodie Smith, is perhaps best known for writing 101 Dalmations, next on my list...
Monday, May 14, 2007
stealing
Odysseus. Jacob. Hermes. Bilbo Baggins. Robin Hood. Pretty Boy Floyd. Danny Ocean.
Why do we love thieves?
There's a revision of the old folk tale Jack and the Beanstalk that disapproves of our love of thieves. Jack is met at the top of the beanstalk by a fairy who lets him know that everything the giant has really belonged to his father--presto, Jack's not a thief!
This is a very boring story, naturally.
While we can justify our love of Robin Hood with the old "redistribution of wealth" claim, it seems that not every version of even Robin Hood's story includes that justification. And we can hardly make the claim for Pretty Boy Floyd or Odysseus. Bilbo is hired to reclaim the dwarfs' property from Smaug, of course, but even he comes to suspect this isn't entirely true; and certainly the Ring is no more his than it is Gollum's.
As a child with more younger siblings than older ones I always thought Jacob was an out-and-out thief; I had way more sympathy for Esau, even if he was a "hairy man."
Still, we like stories about thieves. And the Jacob story may give us a clue as to why: we're supposed to think, I think, that the wealthy, the privileged, the first-born, deserve to lose their property or their position. We don't mind if they suffer a little--they have so much. And the thief is smarter, quicker, funnier, than his prey. He's romantic, dashing, clever, more cultured than the property owner. Somehow he deserves to win.
Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia trilogy (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia) exploits our sympathy for the thief: we root for Eugenides, her thief, but we also know, I think, that our sympathy has its root in a romantic fiction. He is indeed well-born, for example, just as much as his victims (and as his name would suggest). He's a thief for hire, it seems--but a thief with a history, a family, a background. Over the course of the trilogy he's also a thief who has to come to terms with living out in the open, with a public life rather than the privacy he's cultivated so carefully. To say more would be to give too much away, but the fact that I finished them last week and am still thinking about them is a good sign--most books just float through my consciousness and fade away before I get around to talking about them.
The plot twists in the series are astonishing, but it's the subtle characterizations that fully engage the reader. These books are terrific. And they made me think about thieves in a while new way--though I still have every intention of locking up every night and holding on to my own stuff. (Thanks to Light Reading's Jenny Davidson for pointing me in their direction.)
Why do we love thieves?
There's a revision of the old folk tale Jack and the Beanstalk that disapproves of our love of thieves. Jack is met at the top of the beanstalk by a fairy who lets him know that everything the giant has really belonged to his father--presto, Jack's not a thief!
This is a very boring story, naturally.
While we can justify our love of Robin Hood with the old "redistribution of wealth" claim, it seems that not every version of even Robin Hood's story includes that justification. And we can hardly make the claim for Pretty Boy Floyd or Odysseus. Bilbo is hired to reclaim the dwarfs' property from Smaug, of course, but even he comes to suspect this isn't entirely true; and certainly the Ring is no more his than it is Gollum's.
As a child with more younger siblings than older ones I always thought Jacob was an out-and-out thief; I had way more sympathy for Esau, even if he was a "hairy man."
Still, we like stories about thieves. And the Jacob story may give us a clue as to why: we're supposed to think, I think, that the wealthy, the privileged, the first-born, deserve to lose their property or their position. We don't mind if they suffer a little--they have so much. And the thief is smarter, quicker, funnier, than his prey. He's romantic, dashing, clever, more cultured than the property owner. Somehow he deserves to win.
Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia trilogy (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia) exploits our sympathy for the thief: we root for Eugenides, her thief, but we also know, I think, that our sympathy has its root in a romantic fiction. He is indeed well-born, for example, just as much as his victims (and as his name would suggest). He's a thief for hire, it seems--but a thief with a history, a family, a background. Over the course of the trilogy he's also a thief who has to come to terms with living out in the open, with a public life rather than the privacy he's cultivated so carefully. To say more would be to give too much away, but the fact that I finished them last week and am still thinking about them is a good sign--most books just float through my consciousness and fade away before I get around to talking about them.
The plot twists in the series are astonishing, but it's the subtle characterizations that fully engage the reader. These books are terrific. And they made me think about thieves in a while new way--though I still have every intention of locking up every night and holding on to my own stuff. (Thanks to Light Reading's Jenny Davidson for pointing me in their direction.)
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