ABAW: July Edition

Yes, yes. I read a few things in July.  Yes, I know I’m running behind.  I’ve quit trying to figure out what the kids have read. Though in passing, I know The Ranger’s Apprentice was very popular. Captain Underpants and the rest of Dav Pilkey’s crew have experienced a resurgent popularity around here (Curse you Dav Pilkey!)*

Books I read in July (Yes, more than one per week. Summer vacation is awesome.)

This month I will use many incomplete sentences. Deal with it. Also, this is less review and more general reaction. 

Summer Knight (Dresden Files Book 4 ) by Jim Butcher

I loved the changelings in here, and the explorations of the politics of faerie. 

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

I started reading this one last summer.  Check here to read my comments about the preview.  They hold up well for my reaction to the whole book.  A fun diversion.  And if you like this Castle meta-story, check out @WriteRCastle on Twitter for an unfolding mystery.  

Blockade Billy, and “Morality” by Stephen King

This is a baseball novella plus a straight-up morality tale. King’s reputation heightened my expectation for the bizarre or the horrible in both of these stories.  No one builds anticipation like King.  Sometimes he builds so well that the climax is disappointing (Helloooo It).  I wouldn’t call the end of Blockade Billy disapointing, but the build up to it is better.  My favorite part of the story is the baseball talk.  I felt like I was standing in the dugout next to the narrator in many scenes.  I haven’t read any of King’s short stories in many years, but “Morality”took me back in time to Skeleton Crew and the like.  No monsters except the human ones.  No evil except that wrought by wrong choices.  Good stuff. 

The Giver by Lois Lowry

When I finished the book: an empty feeling. No, a sense that my feelings were drifting. Sadness.  The mild confusion that I wasn’t sure what happened. Why had no other Giver chosen this path?  I had never read this book before, in spite of its presence on so many You-Must-Read-This-Now lists.  I’ve been trying to convince the kids to read it.  Now that I’ve read it, I think only Sonar X10 would enjoy it.  Maybe.  It is the story of a seemingly utopian future, told from the perspective of a boy who slowly becomes aware of the problems and the ugliness all around him.  There is one shocking and horrifying scene in the book.  I felt like I should have expected the harsh moment, but it surprised me in its starkness and the absolute calm with which it happens.  Which only makes it more horrible.  Trying not to spoil only makes my comments obtuse.  Let me just say that the story might be difficult to follow for younger children and some parents might not like the idea of kids reading about killing babies. Oops. So many possible lines of discussion in the book. I can see why it’s a popular classroom choice. 

Death Masks (Dresden Files Book 5) by Jim Butcher

This one included the Shroud of Turin and explored and expanded some ideas about the magic of faith.  Can an atheist be a Knight of the Cross?  Apparently so. Rock on.  The patterns of the Dresden books are well set, a little predictable, but that predictability can be cozy sometimes.  This one felt less humorous than the others, or more like the humorous moments were forced.  I did love the use of the Cabbage Patch Doll and the wind-up duck.  But why did Dresden have those things?  Especially the duck in his pocket?

Sold by Patricia McCormick 

2007 National Book Award Finalist. This is the story of a young Nepalese girl named Lakshmi who is sold into sex slavery in India.  McCormick tells the story from Lakshmi’s perspective in a series of short vignettes.  Many of Lakshmi’s experiences are brutal, but McCormick’s prose feels gentle, helping provide a barrier for the reader against the torment Lakshmi experiences.  I find it profoundly sad and frustrating that many girls and women around the world are having similar experiences every single day.  The story ends with hope, with Lakshmi’s triumph over the violence and despair.  Would that all girls like her could find the same hopeful ending. 

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

When I read this book in high school, I threw it across the room on the last page.  I suspect that the teenage me wanted the characters to escape and thwart expectation.  The thirtysomething me was still disappointed in the weight of the ending. This time I was suffocated by the poverty and oppressive convention enveloping the Fromes.  By Ethan’s downward spiral of pain and repetition.  

Grave Secrets (Harper Connelly Book 4) by Charlaine Harris

I haven’t read anything about Harris’s intentions with this series, but it feels like this was the conclusion.  Or maybe it doesn’t start out that way, but the hasty summary of the last few pages make it so.  Harper figures out what happened to her sister.  Commitments are made.  She doesn’t say “happily ever after,”more like “the road goes ever on, in a happy way.” My favorite character is Manfred, and I felt like he was sort of thrown under the bus.  I can always hope that Harris will give him his own novel.  

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

“Do you know the difference between a symbol and a sign?” This is a story of the semiotics of longing and loss.   Each characters stands in for another as an object of desire.  Some characters are split—by magic? by intention?  I loved this book.  It is among my favorite two or three books I’ve read this year.  Murakami’s prose is so crisp, his plots so elegant that I don’t always realize how I’m being wrapped up by the complexity of the ideas.   

The Four Arguments by Don Miguel Ruiz

Be impeccable with your word.  

Don’t take anything personally.  

Don’t make assumptions.  

Always do your best in each moment.  

This is a book of guidance about transforming life using ancient Toltec wisdom.  I love the idea of the (hard) simplicity of the four agreements.  I was less interested in the spiritual guidance and explanations of them, but it is a straightforward little book that many might find comforting. 

Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke

Another book from the self-help section.  I was cleaning house, so it caught my attention.  Blanke is a motivational speaker and her approach to decluttering lives is interesting.  The first part of the book is a room-by-room guide to getting rid of the physical clutter in our lives.  The second is about getting rid of mental and emotional clutter that might be stifling us.  This second half is much more important for Blanke.  The physical clutter is really a symptom of the mental clutter.  Getting rid of the junk piled around us can make the entry into personal improvement a little easier.  I only kept a list through 27.  I threw out a lot more stuff than that, but didn’t write them down.  Blanke didn’t get me to do anything I hadn’t already planned, but reading her book as I worked made me feel like I had a cheerleader on my side.  

*I don’t really mean that, of course. I love you Pilkey.  Have you read your Underpants today?

Comments

[Patrick]

I love Stephen King but I hate reading the last 5% of his stories. He is a great story teller and I always feel like he doesn't want to end the story so, like a band-aid, he figures ripping it off quickly is the best way. It often leaves me sore.

As an aside, his style always reminds me of a crazy old uncle that you just shake your head about but love to listen to him when he gets on a rant.

[Eglentyne]

The crazy old uncle analogy is a good one for Blockade Billy. The narrator is an old guy in a nursing home, supposedly telling Billy's story to King. And you're spot on with the band-aid metaphor. I often feel that way as well. If you haven't, go read some Murakami. He has both novels and short stories. I think you'd like him.