What have you read lately?

[marshwiggle]

I have had a similar issue to deal with in working with the ADHD student I've supported over the past semester.

What was his teacher thinking of, assigning young middle-schoolers (6th grade) a story with two gang-related deaths by shooting and other assorted moments of violence?  (S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders," FYI). The chapter work was excellent, in using comparisons with other literary materials, etc., but the basic material worried me.

Going to high school in the 70's, (and where I grew up, high school started at Grade 7), it seemed part of the point of English class was to try and shock students my picking edgy things. In some grade, (9 at the latest), we read The Grapes of Wrath. Not a single character who I cared enough about to enjoy the book.

Short stories were different, though. Some of my favourites were "The Most Dangerous Game", "Sorry Wrong Number" and "The Monkey's Paw". If they'd have picked novels like that, I would have been much more onboard.

[mamselle]

Interesting...speaking of Steinbeck, I was just pondering East of Eden, in fact, having just hit Genesis 2-4 in my daily rota....

M.

[hmaria1609]

Got a trove of library books coming for my reading pleasure!  :)

[traductio]

Ergative, thanks for the heads up about the new book.

Fishprof, you know your daughter best, but I would be hesitant to read those books to someone so young.  I am not sure I would consider them children's books... there are a lot of adult themes (mostly in terms of violence or frightening or very sad elements) from what I recall, and a feeling of loss of youth and innocence.  But, there are good aspects as well, friendship and love and fighting for justice.  Maybe you can pre-read some of it and see whether you wish to continue at this time? I started reading Stephen King when I was around her age, but I'm not sure that was a good thing.  On the other hand, the Pullman books have more positives to offer, especially if you are reading together and you can discuss things that come up or gauge how she is handling it.  Just my two cents.  Good luck.

My daughter and I read His Dark Materials (the trilogy starting with Golden Compass) when she was about seven. On the one hand, there were parts I think we should have waited for, especially in the second and third books. On the other hand, there are some deeply moving parts, especially in the third book, when the characters start on their most serious adventure. (That's all I'll say because it's generic enough not to give away plot points, but clear enough that when you get there, you'll know what I'm talking about.) On yet another hand (that makes three!), I don't think my daughter picked up on a lot of the subtler points of some of the more mature material. The gruesome parts, yes, she certainly did, but certain aspects of the characters' emotional growth were things she'll need to discover later, if she reads the books again.

All that to say, I don't think I scarred her by reading them, but I mighta waited a bit if I had previewed the books first.

(I started to read the first book of the new trilogy, but I didn't get very far. My daughter doesn't know I bought it, or she'd demand to read it. I'm intrigued by the premise of the second book of the new trilogy, though.)

[ergative]

Ergative, thanks for the heads up about the new book.

Fishprof, you know your daughter best, but I would be hesitant to read those books to someone so young.  I am not sure I would consider them children's books... there are a lot of adult themes (mostly in terms of violence or frightening or very sad elements) from what I recall, and a feeling of loss of youth and innocence.  But, there are good aspects as well, friendship and love and fighting for justice.  Maybe you can pre-read some of it and see whether you wish to continue at this time? I started reading Stephen King when I was around her age, but I'm not sure that was a good thing.  On the other hand, the Pullman books have more positives to offer, especially if you are reading together and you can discuss things that come up or gauge how she is handling it.  Just my two cents.  Good luck.

My daughter and I read His Dark Materials (the trilogy starting with Golden Compass) when she was about seven. On the one hand, there were parts I think we should have waited for, especially in the second and third books. On the other hand, there are some deeply moving parts, especially in the third book, when the characters start on their most serious adventure. (That's all I'll say because it's generic enough not to give away plot points, but clear enough that when you get there, you'll know what I'm talking about.) On yet another hand (that makes three!), I don't think my daughter picked up on a lot of the subtler points of some of the more mature material. The gruesome parts, yes, she certainly did, but certain aspects of the characters' emotional growth were things she'll need to discover later, if she reads the books again.

All that to say, I don't think I scarred her by reading them, but I mighta waited a bit if I had previewed the books first.

(I started to read the first book of the new trilogy, but I didn't get very far. My daughter doesn't know I bought it, or she'd demand to read it. I'm intrigued by the premise of the second book of the new trilogy, though.)

The premise of the second book of the new trilogy is a thirty-something college professor perving on his twenty-something student--a student that he had looked after when she was a literal infant. There's other stuff, but that was the bit that made me nope out of there.

[traductio]

The premise of the second book of the new trilogy is a thirty-something college professor perving on his twenty-something student--a student that he had looked after when she was a literal infant. There's other stuff, but that was the bit that made me nope out of there.

Eww. What I had read made it seem like more like the psychological portrait of the main character as she grew alienated from herself (I'm again trying to avoid specifics). That's not at all inconsistent with what you wrote, but the nature of that alienation -- the gross prof -- wasn't in any of the descriptions I read.

[ergative]

The premise of the second book of the new trilogy is a thirty-something college professor perving on his twenty-something student--a student that he had looked after when she was a literal infant. There's other stuff, but that was the bit that made me nope out of there.

Eww. What I had read made it seem like more like the psychological portrait of the main character as she grew alienated from herself (I'm again trying to avoid specifics). That's not at all inconsistent with what you wrote, but the nature of that alienation -- the gross prof -- wasn't in any of the descriptions I read.

Oh, the alienation is a different component of the book entirely, but I also found it frustrating and boring. It felt more like a plot device to prevent crucial pieces of information from being fully apprehended than any genuine exploration of the psychology of internal conflict.

To be fair to the book, I quit when the perviness became impossible to ignore, so it might improve after that.

[traductio]

The premise of the second book of the new trilogy is a thirty-something college professor perving on his twenty-something student--a student that he had looked after when she was a literal infant. There's other stuff, but that was the bit that made me nope out of there.

Eww. What I had read made it seem like more like the psychological portrait of the main character as she grew alienated from herself (I'm again trying to avoid specifics). That's not at all inconsistent with what you wrote, but the nature of that alienation -- the gross prof -- wasn't in any of the descriptions I read.

Oh, the alienation is a different component of the book entirely, but I also found it frustrating and boring. It felt more like a plot device to prevent crucial pieces of information from being fully apprehended than any genuine exploration of the psychology of internal conflict.

To be fair to the book, I quit when the perviness became impossible to ignore, so it might improve after that.

That's a shame because the idea had incredible potential. You've made me all the gladder, however, that I'm not reading the book with my daughter.

[ab_grp]

Now we are reading Empire Falls (Richard Russo), which won the Pulitzer and was apparently written between the two previous books of his we'd read (Nobody's Fool and follow up Everybody's Fool).  I'd guess we're about 3/4 of the way through.  It reminds me very much of Nobody's Fool in terms of the setting (town based around some industry that has dried up, college/rival town nearby) and some of the character types and lifestyle fixtures (the local bars everyone goes to, the diner everyone eats at).  I loved Nobody's Fool, and I am anxious to see how this story turns out.  It has been hard to put this book down.  I think Russo has a great ability to write about scenes in a way that is matter-of-fact, dry, and absurdist... completely hilarious (my kind of humor).  The other night we were up way too late reading and had tears streaming from the laughter about one particular section.  While these kinds of scenes and depictions have come up several times in the books of his we've read, he is also very good (I think) about subtly painting characters a little more deeply and a little more deeply during a book.  They start out almost as stereotypes, but they get layered as time goes on, and I find myself really drawn to a number of them and caring about how things play out for them (and, there are some really unlikable folks, of course).  There are a couple little mysteries going on that I am impatient to find out the answers to.  We still have a ways to go, but that is my report so far. 

I just watched the Empire Falls miniseries with Ed Harris on Amazon Prime recently. I am intrigued to read the book now as it does take a sudden turn and I am wondering how that is treated in the book. Also there are lots of characters and I think many probably get short shrift in a TV movie, even in mini-series format like this.

Bringing back up an older discussion: we watched the Empire Falls miniseries last week.  I can confirm that many of the characters get short shrift versus their roles in the book.  I didn't particularly care for the miniseries, partly because of that, but also some of the characters really didn't seem much at all like their counterparts in the book.  I know Russo probably had to cut quite a lot for this format, but I was dismayed at some of what he cut versus what he left in.  I don't think there was nearly as much background and build up for the major stuff, so some characters ended up very one-dimensional, which is unfortunate due to the complexity of the story and seems unfair to the characters.  In contrast, the movie version of Nobody's Fool was way closer to the book in my opinion, even though I did prefer the book in that case as well.

In other news, we are still reading Consider Phlebus in a second attempt, and it continues to be more engaging than the first attempt now that we have some familiarity with the writing style and context and the story has picked up.  It still drags at times and is not as compelling as The Player of Games (nor does it seem as clever), but we are more interested in finding out what happens! I was thinking, too, that there were some pieces of The Player of Games that didn't seem to be explained (or I may have missed something!), and I am wondering how that book, or these two books, tie in to the rest of the series or whether each book is pretty stand alone.

[Parasaurolophus]

I was thinking, too, that there were some pieces of The Player of Games that didn't seem to be explained (or I may have missed something!), and I am wondering how that book, or these two books, tie in to the rest of the series or whether each book is pretty stand alone.

They're all standalone, although each fills in more of the universe (which gets more interesting the more you know about it). And occasionally you'll spot a reference to previous works, like at the end of Surface Detail.

None of the other novels quite compare to Player of Games, though. For one thing, they're mostly (but not entirely) straightforward space operas, and Banks is far more interesting when he deviates from that subgenre.

[ab_grp]

I was thinking, too, that there were some pieces of The Player of Games that didn't seem to be explained (or I may have missed something!), and I am wondering how that book, or these two books, tie in to the rest of the series or whether each book is pretty stand alone.

They're all standalone, although each fills in more of the universe (which gets more interesting the more you know about it). And occasionally you'll spot a reference to previous works, like at the end of Surface Detail.

None of the other novels quite compare to Player of Games, though. For one thing, they're mostly (but not entirely) straightforward space operas, and Banks is far more interesting when he deviates from that subgenre.

Thank you! Your insights are (as always!) very helpful.  We do like space operas quite a bit, but we may step away from the series after this book and come back to it later in favor of other items on tap. 

One more thing about Russo... we watched DOA last night (the version with Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan), and it made me think a lot about Straight Man! Of course, the movie is a murder mystery (and a fun one, I thought), so it's a little darker at times, though Russo can certainly go dark.

[ergative]

Catfishing on Catnet, by Naomi Kritzer: YA, charming romp about a benevolent and beneficent AI that uses the internet for good. There's a great sequence about a bunch of teens hacking a sex-ed teaching robot that has been programmed to respond 'you'll have to ask your parents about that' when asked any of the hard questions.

John Scalzi's Interdependency series: pretty standard Scalzi, with one particularly awesome foul-mouthed smartass, but something about it seemed too easy. The bad guys were too regularly thwarted too easily. The good guys always seemed one step ahead of them, which meant that there was never any real tension about whether the good guys would fail. Even a particularly striking bombshell in the third book didn't end up actually setting the Forces For Good back too far.

Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett: I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. It's an accidental colony that sprouted on a wandering planet without a sun, so everything's dark and the only light comes from the colony's fires or else bioluminescence from the native ecosystem. Visually the world was great. Socially the book was trying to do things that I get, but which I found a little tiresome (lots of Feelings about how myth and historical narrative are constructed and reinforced not true retellings of what exactly happened). Content warning: only one man and one woman were left behind, so the entire population several generations on is based on incest and inbreeding.

Lanie Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy: It was florid and smoochy and dramatic and overwrought, and I adored it. The development of the magical component works so wonderfully (teeth? Why teeth?!), and the conclusion is very satisfying. The second half of the first book is a bit too dependent on tiresome tragiromantic flashbacks, which interfere with the actual plot development, but things pick up again in the second and third books. Content warning: attempted rape in the second book. It is justified narratively, but I think it was unnecessary and the same narrative goals could have been accomplished without it.

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison: Reread. So good! Terrifically engaging imperial political thriller, based entirely on an out-of-place, friendless surprise!emperor who just wants to do a good job, and by dint of goodwell and earnest hard work makes better.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, by Susanne Clarke: Reread. Just as good the second time through. The miniseries is good, too. There were a couple of distinct narrative choices that I really liked. They showed a genuine partnership of trust building between Lady Pole, Mr Segundus, and Mr Honeyfoot at Starecross Hall as they work to decipher the strange tales, and they grant Lady Pole real agency after Arabella joins her and Mr Strange asks her to look after Arabella. And they make Mr Norell's dastardliness much more straightforward by showing that he knew about the consequences of the fairy bargain he made from the beginning, and so he knew that it wasn't a simple matter of 'magic can't cure madness', but in fact was the result of his own actions.

Luna, New Moon, by Ian McDonald: Mafioso-like families battle it out for economic supremacy on our colonized moon. If you like that sort of thing, it's fine, but it didn't quite work for me. What was much better were  . . .

Jade City and the sequel, Jade War, by Fonda Lee: Mafioso-like families battle it out for economic supremacy on a secondary-world fantasy where magical jade turns people with the right biology into superpowered bags of thuggery. The world is heavily flavored with the technology and politics post-WWII Asia (airplanes and telephones, but not internet or computers), and it's incredibly rich and wonderful. Issues include: the role of ethnicity in allowing you to access the magical jade powers; the international macroeconomics of being a small country that has a monopoly on the source of magical jade; the ethics of belonging to a family that puts clan interests above personal interests; the complexities of immigrant communities recreating the social structures from home in a new country; and the awkwardness of needing to fit personal skills to available roles in different political environments.

[ab_grp]

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, by Susanne Clarke: Reread. Just as good the second time through. The miniseries is good, too. There were a couple of distinct narrative choices that I really liked. They showed a genuine partnership of trust building between Lady Pole, Mr Segundus, and Mr Honeyfoot at Starecross Hall as they work to decipher the strange tales, and they grant Lady Pole real agency after Arabella joins her and Mr Strange asks her to look after Arabella. And they make Mr Norell's dastardliness much more straightforward by showing that he knew about the consequences of the fairy bargain he made from the beginning, and so he knew that it wasn't a simple matter of 'magic can't cure madness', but in fact was the result of his own actions.

I had this book at one point but never got around to reading it.  Maybe I'll take a look for it.

We finally finished Consider Phlebas (Banks).  The book did get more interesting at times (and at one point quite gory), but I agree with a review from Goodreads that there is too much tell and not enough show, too much explanation, clunky writing at times, and poor character development.  Even once the cast list was whittled down, it still took a while to remember which characters were which, because there was almost no description or demonstration of personality.  It was difficult to care about any of them.  Although the pace picked up after the first hundred or so pages, it started dragging again at times.  Then, near the end, we realized that a lot had to be wrapped up and wrapped up quickly.  I still don't know how some of the characters fit in (if they do).  Maybe they show up elsewhere.  I may be one of the less literate here, because I had no idea what the title referred to and kept waiting for Phlebas to show up for consideration.  But, I finally looked it up today and get where Banks was coming from with the reference.  The Player of Games was way better, so we may try other books in the series.  The other one recommended by spouse's colleague, besides those I've mentioned in this post, was Use of Weapons.

We are now reading That Old Cape Magic (Russo) but are not far enough into it to comment.

[downer]

By weird coincidence, I just finished

Overkill
When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far
by Paul A. Offit M.D.
2020

When does medicine go too far? All the time!

[Economizer]

THE WATCHMAN By Robert Crais, 2007

A very good mystery. It is not overly rough (as action stories go nowadays), and shares very interesting information re big city investigation resources. The ending..well, it is wonderful.