![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ordinarychroniclesYes, it's official. This entry has been initiated by a Red Dwarf quote, mostly I wanted to comment on a trend I've recently noticed. The amount of mental sluggishness I feel is the direct inverse of the amount of time I've spent reading for pleasure. Sadly, when I'm at MHC, I don't spend nearly enough time reading for pleasure. :\ This is something I desperately need to remedy next year, because I need all the help I can get to be focused and mentally cognizant. Since I really started reading again, no matter what the material, I feel almost as if I've been suddenly awakened from some strange state of mental hibernation. It's quite liberating. :D
The entire 500 Kingdoms series by Mercades Lackey, at the behest of Stephanie. Amazingly amusing premise and characters, sadly conventional plot. I was excited when I heard the series was about people trying to surmount the fairytale roles imposed on them by a natural force called the Tradition, but quite disillusioned upon finding out that the heroes always escape them without really escaping them. Each book starts with a heroine. In the first, it's Elena. Because of her family situation, the Tradition was trying to force her into becoming a Cinderella, but since she was not content to wait passively for her fairytale ending, she was recruited to become the Kingdom's newest Fairy Godmother. My favorite portion of the book was definitely the details of her apprenticeship and the Fairy Godmother position in general. Very creative. Alas, it all comes undone when she takes in an Arrogant Prince in order to discipline him for his lack of generosity. While it is amusing to see him in the form of a donkey...his redemption is kinda unconvincing...and the circumstances under which Elena falls for him are dubious, at best.
The second book is slightly more interesting, mostly because it deals with a wider variety of characters, and I can appreciate the conventional ending a little bit more because it just seemed fitting for a book based on Greek mythology. I don't really want to spoil anything, so I'll just leave it at that.
As for the third book, well...I was really disappointed with parts of it. The villain, one of the evil Jinni, was not developed AT ALL beyond the typical traits (arrogance and love of power) alluded to in so many other fantasy tales. I did, however, really enjoy the way she managed to blend a whole lot of very different fairy tale traditions into this one book. I guess I have difficulty reconciling the premise of the series with the fact that EVERYONE ALWAYS PAIRS OFF AND PLACES LOVE/THEIR RELATIONSHIP ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE at the end of each book. I can't help but suspect that this is because the series was published with Luna, which deals with almost exclusively romantic fantasy. Still, they are amusing and basically worth reading, especially for the unicorns. Gah, the more I think about it, the more the whole thing reminds me of Blue Rose
Tons and tons of short stories by Sherman Alexie
I honestly think I reread these because I am taking a seminar with Prof Davis. For those of you who know this story, I apologize...but for those that don't, an explanation might be necessary. My first English class at MHC was very multicultural, and included a unit on Native American lit. Prof Davis had us read Louise Erdrich, whom I CANNOT STAND. As far as Native American stuff goes, I really prefer Sherman because a) He and his characters are more genuine and amusing, and b) his stuff is generally much less disturbing. She has a habit of killing people off in horrifying ways and separating families that I just can't take. :P I told Prof Davis about this preference, and she responded with "I don't really care for him. I feel like he's too condescending, even to his characters...to the point where he kind of abuses them"
My response was "...but Louise Erdrich tortures hers!"
Anyway, seeing Davis's name on ISIS reminded me of him, so I took the liberty of rereading him. He has one of the clearest, most scintillating narrative voices I've read in a long time. I don't think I've ever read a collection of short stories that are this focused and powerful. They are sad and depressing, yes, but his characters always give me hope. I remain hopeful after this last rereading, despite the fact that I can't decide whether or not that hope is justified. His characters, despite their pithy observations and unique brand of personal success, always seem trapped and confined somehow by their circumstances. I guess this is kinda universal, and probably why I like him. You can also tell he was a total D&D/literature dork as a kid...which is AMAZING. :D I definitely smiled when one of his characters observed a pretty girl with a bag full of books and said "I hope that bag was equally full of classical literature and comic books"
^_^
The entire 500 Kingdoms series by Mercades Lackey, at the behest of Stephanie. Amazingly amusing premise and characters, sadly conventional plot. I was excited when I heard the series was about people trying to surmount the fairytale roles imposed on them by a natural force called the Tradition, but quite disillusioned upon finding out that the heroes always escape them without really escaping them. Each book starts with a heroine. In the first, it's Elena. Because of her family situation, the Tradition was trying to force her into becoming a Cinderella, but since she was not content to wait passively for her fairytale ending, she was recruited to become the Kingdom's newest Fairy Godmother. My favorite portion of the book was definitely the details of her apprenticeship and the Fairy Godmother position in general. Very creative. Alas, it all comes undone when she takes in an Arrogant Prince in order to discipline him for his lack of generosity. While it is amusing to see him in the form of a donkey...his redemption is kinda unconvincing...and the circumstances under which Elena falls for him are dubious, at best.
The second book is slightly more interesting, mostly because it deals with a wider variety of characters, and I can appreciate the conventional ending a little bit more because it just seemed fitting for a book based on Greek mythology. I don't really want to spoil anything, so I'll just leave it at that.
As for the third book, well...I was really disappointed with parts of it. The villain, one of the evil Jinni, was not developed AT ALL beyond the typical traits (arrogance and love of power) alluded to in so many other fantasy tales. I did, however, really enjoy the way she managed to blend a whole lot of very different fairy tale traditions into this one book. I guess I have difficulty reconciling the premise of the series with the fact that EVERYONE ALWAYS PAIRS OFF AND PLACES LOVE/THEIR RELATIONSHIP ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE at the end of each book. I can't help but suspect that this is because the series was published with Luna, which deals with almost exclusively romantic fantasy. Still, they are amusing and basically worth reading, especially for the unicorns. Gah, the more I think about it, the more the whole thing reminds me of Blue Rose
Tons and tons of short stories by Sherman Alexie
I honestly think I reread these because I am taking a seminar with Prof Davis. For those of you who know this story, I apologize...but for those that don't, an explanation might be necessary. My first English class at MHC was very multicultural, and included a unit on Native American lit. Prof Davis had us read Louise Erdrich, whom I CANNOT STAND. As far as Native American stuff goes, I really prefer Sherman because a) He and his characters are more genuine and amusing, and b) his stuff is generally much less disturbing. She has a habit of killing people off in horrifying ways and separating families that I just can't take. :P I told Prof Davis about this preference, and she responded with "I don't really care for him. I feel like he's too condescending, even to his characters...to the point where he kind of abuses them"
My response was "...but Louise Erdrich tortures hers!"
Anyway, seeing Davis's name on ISIS reminded me of him, so I took the liberty of rereading him. He has one of the clearest, most scintillating narrative voices I've read in a long time. I don't think I've ever read a collection of short stories that are this focused and powerful. They are sad and depressing, yes, but his characters always give me hope. I remain hopeful after this last rereading, despite the fact that I can't decide whether or not that hope is justified. His characters, despite their pithy observations and unique brand of personal success, always seem trapped and confined somehow by their circumstances. I guess this is kinda universal, and probably why I like him. You can also tell he was a total D&D/literature dork as a kid...which is AMAZING. :D I definitely smiled when one of his characters observed a pretty girl with a bag full of books and said "I hope that bag was equally full of classical literature and comic books"
^_^
