In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 5/52

9 books last week, probably because I spent most of it on the Megabus.  10th to the 16th of September.

Four audiobooks, three of which I'd read before; Thud, Snuff and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.  Map of Bones is the one I'd not read before.

A realisation from Snuff:  Young Sam reminds me a lot of the kid from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  You're constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to be frightened of goblins or something...and then he just doesn't.

Bin Ich Klein? is the first book in German that I've ever read.  It's aimed at toddlers, which is about my language level.  I liked it!

The Good Study Guide is a pretty useful resource; I read that and Origin of Species to get back into the habit of studying before my course starts on Monday (though I do already have my first assignment...).

I was pretty disappointed by Light of the Fireflies.  It involved reprehensible people doing shitty things in the name of love.  The one voice of reason is raped and murdered.

It also featured someone brushing their teeth with the foam someone else had spat out, which strikes me as one of the most disgusting things imaginable.  It seems even more disgusting than consuming something gross, I suspect because toothpaste is the stuff you clean yourself with.  At least if you eat something disgusting you can clean yourself afterwards.  When the thing you clean yourself with is disgusting then there's no escape.

The language and metaphors were also incredibly clumsy, although, to be fair, it's translated from the Spanish, so perhaps it's not coming across well.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 4/52

Three books last week - 3rd to the 9th of September.  All books I'd read before, two audiobooks, and one on Kindle.

Play or Die was the kindle book, and it's one of the few I've actually reviewed on Goodreads. Undercover Economist is a non-fiction work on how economics can explain everyday things, while The Fifth Elephant is the last City Watch book before Night Watch.

A thought occured to me the other day; the City Watch series (or, loop) from Guards! Guards! to Night Watch is a stable time loop, a la Final Fantasy VIII, and it's the story of Vimes becoming a self-made man.  He's first influenced by the original John Keel.  Some of it sticks - he never lets the Beast out - but it's not enough, and he slumps into an alcoholic depression for the next thirty years.  In Guards! Guards! he's inspired by Carrot; he wants to live up to Carrots ideals, and the Watch finally has the power to start being the kind of force he wants it to be.  Vetinari begins to take an interest; begins to use Vimes as another instrument to focus the city how he wants.  Finally, after a few years of those two, Vimes influences his own younger self.  Only once he has reached that point can he move on with his life; his son is born immediately afterwards.

In Which We Discuss Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones was first published in 1998, shortly before my 10th birthday. It has a lot in common with Rebecca, another book I read a few years ago, although it treats the core elements differently.

This is one of the many novels in which the main character is a writer. If I recall correctly, this was the book where I first found out that King’s novels weren’t published in written order, though it might have been Lisey's Story; sometimes, he wrote too prolifically and would stash a few, as the character Mike Noonan does. When I started this project I did consider making the effort to find out the order in which the novels were actually written and to read them in that order, but I came to the conclusion that that would be unreasonably difficult.

The other day I thought about the fact that Shakespeare’s plays begin to have happier, more optimistic endings as he got older. That was one of the reasons I wanted to read an author’s work in chronological order; to see how it changed as they aged. When I did this with Lisa Jewell a few years ago there were a number of changes. What stood out most was her concern about children, after she had her own.

King’s writing is so prolific that I actually find it harder to step back and see trends. It’s like trying to watch a plant growing by staring at it for every hour of the day. There are trends; for instance, Rage and Carrie, both about teenagers, were written when King was younger – although The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which focuses on a young girl, was published in 1999, when King was 52 and presumably written when he was at least in his 40s. His children make a difference as well; many characters are openly based on King’s family, and he does have a gift for observation.

I remembered Bag of Bones wrong; the first time I read it, it felt like it was a lot more about Sara and a lot less about Maddie. This time, I was waiting for the whole bit with Maddie to get out of the way so we could get to the main story about Sara. I was about three hours from the end – audiobook – when I finally twigged that Maddie was part of the main story.

The audiobook includes an interview with King on the topic of audiobooks. When he first wanted to listen to them, very few unabridged recordings were available, so he would pay his children $18 for each ninety-minute tape recording of a book he wanted to have read. It really is no wonder that King’s two sons, Owen King and Joe Hill, both grew up to be authors.

What is interesting is that relatively few of King’s characters are LGBT, despite the fact that his daughter Naomi is openly gay. Naomi’s life is less open than her brothers’, as she is less of a public figure. Perhaps King also considers her life to be private. I didn't realise, until I read this article, that she's a wheelchair user.  I'm not sure at which point in her life she began using a wheelchair, but it would be interesting to see if King's characters start using them more after that point.  So far, I think it's only been Paul Sheldon in Misery.

The next work of King’s is The Storm of the Century, a TV series for which he wrote the script. I’ve decided that while I will try to watch the series, I won’t try to hunt down the script to read it. I’ll be moving on to The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – another book I’ve read before.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 3/52

Five books last week! That’s the 27th August to the 3rd September – and yes, I realise I’m writing this on the 7th of September! I’m moving to Manchester in eight days, which involves a lot of wrapping things up. For instance, returning my last West Midlands library book. I’d returned all the books I’d borrowed from Sandwell, Dudley, and Solihull, so that only left House of Leaves to go back to Birmingham. I finished rereading it this week and then took it back. It was a little anti-climactic, really.

I feel like I took in more of the book this time; I noticed little things like the substitution of the word ‘heal’ for ‘heel’. A few notes from my journal;

- If Johnny is the minotaur then his footnotes are the roars, echoing around the House of Leaves. This also indicates a communication through time, a la For the Time Being.
- Navidson doesn’t feel that the tapes really capture the true scope of the house. Really, films not capturing the fullness of a ‘house of leaves’ (book)?

I finished rereading (listening to) Feet of Clay and Jingo this week. Both books in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch sub-series of the Discworld.

Some comments from my diary about Men at Arms; Dorlf reminds me a lot of Simony from Small Gods. They’re both the kind of atheists who spend a lot of time thinking about god. I also spent some time wondering if Cheery is trans, since her genitals are never discussed. She might be; it’s totally irrelevant what genitalia she has, both in and out of universe. She wants to present as female, so she does.

I nearly cried when Big Fido died, the poor mad bastard. He so desperately wanted to be a fallen angel rather than an ascending ape, a la Science of the Discworld. That’s what his wolf thing was about.

In the alternate timeline of Jingo, Vimes dies on the barricades of Ankh-Morpork. Since he’s not yet seen it from the other side, as he will in Night Watch, he’s likely having flashbacks to the first one and watching Keel die, especially when his fellow Watchmen start dying around him. TV Tropes also points out some specific tearjerkers in the order in which the characters die; Detritus immediately after Cheery, as if he waded into a group to avenge her. Visit alongside other Watchmen, finally accepted. Carrot immediately before Vimes, as if he took a the blow for him.

Reg Shoe as well; imagine the flashbacks he’ll be having to the Glorious 25th of May.

Pretties is the second in the Uglies series, another one which I’ve read before. I do like Shay, and it’s a pretty good version.

Bag of Bones I’ll be writing a longer post about later.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 2/52

Four books this week - 20th to 26th August.

I picked up The Girl with all the Gifts after reading an article in a local newspaper, calling for extras to play the zombies. The movie – which was written at the same time as the book – is being filmed near here.

The book was interesting – I loved the method by which they became zombies – but very sad. Since I’m about to begin a genetics degree, Caroline was an interesting character. In her place, would I go that far? Probably not….

Career of Evil is the latest in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). Not as intriguing as, for instance, Sophie Hannah’s mysteries, but compelling enough. And, again, it does lend some legitimency to picturing Harry Potter the Auror as a hard-boiled detective!

The Last Girlfriend on Earth is one of my favourite short story collections. I’ve read it quite a few times over the last few years, so there’s not a lot to add here. It’s just a really well-written collection based on an interesting idea.

Finally, Men at Arms. It’s a shame about Cuddy, though it does begin to establish Detritus, Angua, and all the other characters who become the backbone of the Watch.