April Books

I was able to complete 8 books in March. For the missing reviews from this particular post, see here and here.

First up, well, after American Gods, was the 2008 Printz Award winner, The White Darkness. I remember getting this book last year at the library and passing it up because it didn't seem too interesting, and I admit only picking it up recently because it won the award. The book details a girl named Sym's life and her obsession with Antarctica. She has always been sort of slow (she lost her hearing at a young age) and shy and fancies the long dead Antarctic explorer, Titus Oates. When her Antarctic dream becomes a reality, she discovers that her obsession has been fueled over the years by the madness of her Uncle Victor. Her uncle's agenda obviously makes the "vacation" to Antarctica a bit dangerous, especially when he blows up an airplane and takes Sym and two others on one crazy ride to find a portal to another world. I liked all of the action and adventure along with the beautiful and harsh descriptions of Antarctica (a place I would like to see someday) but thought that even a naive person could figure out that her uncle was a little on the crazy side from the beginning.

I began Dachshunds for Dummies back in February and finished it on a plane ride to Colorado. First, I never thought I would read a "For Dummies" book. Second, I never thought I would read one straight through. Jon and I have wanted a dachshund for quite a while now, especially since we met Rosie, the miniature brown and tan smooth beauty in Colorado, and the (hopefully) mother of our future puppy. It's always good to do research on a breed to make sure the dog is right for you, and thanks to Ashley's recommendation, this appears to be the best reference out there. I obviously can't quite judge this book yet, as I do not own a dachshund, but I did learn a ton about training, different dachshund personalities, and back problems because of their long bodies. More than anything, the book has made me really excited about getting a dachshund and starting my family. For now though, I am content to live vicariously through Ashley, who owns three of them (God Bless her.)

While my dad was stuck at the hospital in Colorado, I had to make to emergency runs to the book store to have enough to read during my prolonged stay. I had to pick up the new Philip Pullman book because I adored the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. This little novella details the beginnings of the friendship between Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison. After winning a hot air balloon in a poker game, the 24 year old Lee travels with his dæmon, the awesome Hester, to the Arctic island of Novy Odense. Here, Lee gets entangled with a crazy scheme that forces him to face his past nemesis and puts his life and others at risk, especially after he befriends the loathed bears (Iorek) on the island. Like Lyra's Oxford, the story was great and I loved the illustrations and the game, but I can't help but think that Pullman could be working on The Book of Dust or a Sally Lockhart novel instead. Regardless, I'll take anything at this point, as I enjoyed learning more about the characters from the trilogy.

I also picked up A Tree Grows in Brooklyn while in Colorado. I've been meaning to read this for a while now and felt this was a good opportunity. Plus, I haven't read enough American literature so far this year. I also am a sucker for novels set in New York. I'm not the biggest fan of cities, but New York has a special charm. The book details the lives of a poor Brooklyn family, particularly focusing on the daughter, Francie. It doesn't necessarily go in chronological order, but you follow the family from the parents, Katie and Johnny's first meeting up through Francie's teenage years. Obviously, living poor is rough and it has a strong influence on the tone of the book. The story made me cry, not because it was necessarily sad, which many parts were, but the writing is absolutely beautiful. I find myself wanting to be Francie's friend when she feels alone, and enduring her heartache both when she loses her father (this isn't a spoiler because it's laid out from the beginning) and experiences her first love and heartbreak. I think even reluctant readers would enjoy this book.

Back to my normal TBR pile, I moved on to Three Little Words. I generally like memoirs, and unlike some people, don't really care if they are fictionalized. This one is aimed at a young adult audience and describes Ashley Rhodes-Courter's life in foster care and eventual adoption. I've always been interested in adoption, not because I have any experience, but because I have a hard time understanding couples with awesome parental potential, but with infertility problems, who will go to great lengths to have a flesh and blood baby, when they could adopt a willing child. The processes are equally difficult, but to each his own. Anyways, Ashley's experience had MANY ups and downs, because of the state system's neglect of her and her brother's case, and case workers who looked the other way when she was put in awful foster homes. When she was adopted by a great family, she eventually became an advocate, and now currently speaks all over the country on adoption and foster care issues. It was a good and enlightening read (especially realizing that the only people who actually helped her were volunteers,) and I would love to hear her speak someday.

I had to break up Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell up a bit because it is super long with tiny print, and I mentally can't handle that. Laika was a good book to split up volumes one and two and also marks my first graphic novel of the year. I added it to the library's collection because it was on YALSA's list for Best Graphic Novels, 2008. I initially liked it because it has three things I love on the cover: a dog, space, and cool illustration technique. The story details the extremely unfortunate decision made by the Russians to send a dog up into space with no return plan (and to celebrate the 50th year of the revolution.) In fact, the public didn't know until 2002 that the dog died after only hours in space (instead of the poisoned food that would peacefully put Laika to sleep after days in space and before the satellite broke up) of stress and overheating. There are many compassionate, but blind characters in the novel, including the head of the Sputnik (I and II) project, Korolev, who once spent time at a Gulag, and who eventually jumps at the chance to sacrifice a dog for the sake of science. After all, and as many characters in the program also felt, "it's just a dog." The story is also interspersed with more humane characters like Mistress Yelena, who takes care of the dogs living at the space program's quarters, etc. She becomes particularly close to Curly, who becomes Laika. This book is not sappy or too anthropomorphic. It is very well done and a beautiful memorial to a beautiful dog.

There won't be many books in May. I'm still plugging through Jonathan Strange and will also begin a re-read of The Mists of Avalon. Both will be split up with other books, but it's going to be a slow reading month overall.

Book Review: The Helmet of Horror

Author: Victor Pelevin
Date Originally Published: 2006
Start Date: April 7th
Completion Date: April 8th

The Helmet of Horror is part of Canongate's series "The Myths." Each book published is authored by a famous current author, who creates a new spin on a classic myth. Victor Pelevin, a celebrated Russian author, rewrote the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. I've always liked reading about labyrinths in literature (my first experience being James Joyce in high school) so that's why I picked this one over others in the series.

The story Pelevin weaves is very interesting. A group of people wake suddenly in separate rooms, not knowing how they got there. They don't know whether they are dead or alive, simply dreaming, or experiencing reality. Each room has a door that is initially locked and a computer. The group connects via a chat session where each individual has a user name created for him and his messages are automatically corrected for spelling and are edited with an "XXX" when too much personal information is given. The screen name "Ariadne" (another connection to the original myth) begins the thread with the quote “I shall construct a labyrinth in which I can lose myself together with anyone who tries to find me - who said this and about what?"

When the characters discover that they can open their doors after demanding that they be unlocked, each discovers a different room or surreal landscape, much like a labyrinth. One couple falls in love and tries to meet each other, one man has a room filled with editing equipment and tapes with candidates for the part of Theseus, and Ariadne meets the Minotaur in her dreams (behind her door is a room with a great bed for sleeping,) who wears the helmet of horror, which resembles a virtual reality helmet. Will Theseus come to save these people from the Minotaur?

I really liked the concept of this book and the way Pelevin constructed things. It was a quick read and I loved the labyrinth connection, but I definitely didn't really understand all of the post-modern/philosophical stuff. The whole ending was sort of lost on me to be honest. I guess I don't possess those higher level thinking skills, or maybe I just prefer for things to be more concrete and less philosophical. I don't know. I recommend the book if you are reading the series, but not necessarily as a stand alone, unless you like Pelevin or Thomas Pynchon-esque works. I might read another one of these eventually... maybe Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad?

Tempest of BLAH

It's been a crazy month. We're still missing CJ a lot. We've grown accustomed to not hearing his feet pattering around on the wood floors, but it doesn't make things any easier. Last week, I received my first Colorado job rejection, which was kind of difficult at first, but not so bad in the long run, especially considering that there are likely more to come (and hopefully a job offer too.)

My parents came out with me to Colorado on the 5th to visit Jon to help out with the new house. On the second night of the visit, my dad had to be rushed to the hospital with type I diabetes complications. It was looking much worse than that initially and it was absolutely heartbreaking, especially for my mom. It's one thing to have to think about losing a parent, but something else to potentially lose a spouse. Luckily Fort Collins has an excellent top 100 hospital and my mom's insurance really stepped up, so after six days spent there examining one complication after another from broken bones caused by a seizure to artery blockages, he was released. He was still too fragile to fly so we spent a couple of days at our house to have him recuperate a bit before the flight back to Atlanta. It's going to be a while before he's 100%, but we're THRILLED that he is doing alright now after everything that happened.

It definitely hasn't been the best of winters/springs so far, but I am more than content to be spending these last few months in Georgia hanging out with my parents. I'm also very lucky to have Jon in my life because he totally stepped up this trip and made things better for my parents and I. When did I get so smart in choosing men? Thanks also go to the people who I have told about all of this (work and friends.) I'm convinced that the prayers and/or thoughts have helped us all though this.

Some good things that have happened this month?

-I turned 26.
-Jon and I have been engaged for six months (with six months to go until the wedding)

-The dog that we're looking at to mother our puppy has gone into heat (crosses fingers that she will get pregnant.) We can't stop talking about getting a dog.

Anyways, I'm behind on my Once Upon a Time reviews for obvious reasons. Expect more bookish posts over the next few weeks.

Book Review: American Gods

Author: Neil Gaiman
Date Originally Published: 2001
Start Date: March 28th
Completion Date: April 4th

I'm aware that, like The Book of Lost Things, I am one of the last people in the book blogging world to read this book. I finished this morning and knew I had to write something about it right away. It's one of those books that I have to immediately discuss, probably because it's one of the most unique novels I have ever read.

I'm not too sure if I can give a good synopsis of the story because there is a lot going on and a lot of references to Gods and Goddesses that I have not previously studied. I've been told that he puts a twist on some of these deities, so maybe that's a good thing. American Gods tells the story of a convict named Shadow, who is serving a jail sentence at the beginning of the story for a robbery. He is released a day before his sentence is up because his wife, Laura, was killed in a car accident. On the plane ride home, he sits next to a man who knows his name and offers him a job, as he no longer has one in his home town. Shadow wants nothing to do with the man, yet he is persistently pursued and offered the job. After Shadow seals the deal by drinking three glasses of mead, he finds himself working for the man, named Wednesday, and basically chauffeurs him around the country and completes odd jobs and meets even more odd people, alive, dead, and ethereal. Shadow's role in Wednesday's plan is much more important than Shadow initially realizes.

I honestly can't say much more about the book without giving the entire plot away, nor can I adequately describe it. I didn't know what to think at first, because I found the mood dark and gloomy, at times creepy, and I just wasn't in the right state of mind for that. But as I kept reading, I became enthralled. I have always liked mythology, but the addition of the Americana was definitely cool for me. I kind of like our cheesy road side attractions, many of which Shadow and Wednesday visit. They make me think of days long before I was born, and remind me of road trips both from when I was young and even from now (drive anywhere near South Dakota and you'll start to see the signs for Wall Drug.) I have always preferred car travel and the cheesy attractions and the millions of road signs leading to them give me a weird sense of patriotism, even if I never visit these places. In the novel, the struggles for the heart of America take place at these locales.

At the end of most chapters, was a small section detailing different "coming to America" stories at different times in history or pre-history. These stories basically illustrate how the Gods came to America with their followers and how most of them vanished after a period of time. Some chapters describe the lives of Gods living today and the clash between the Gods of old who were brought with immigration, and the Gods of new, which basically represent our media-driven culture. It took me a while to see where all of these mini stories fit in with the rest of the book, but they all did in the end.

By the middle of the book, I was hooked. The story has so many twists and so many characters that are good at one moment and bad at the next. The final third of the story is definitely the best part, as Shadow's real role in his job and the fate of America takes place. This story is difficult to describe because there are so many twists and turns. Good characters turn bad and vice versa. The reader is left in the dark until the ending, much like a good mystery. I'm really impressed with Gaiman's writing. I knew he was a good author with a lot of imagination when I read Coraline, but I felt much more a connection with American Gods because he was writing about places that I have seen and the story in general interested me more. Overall, I thought it was a beautiful book and will definitely be picking up more of his stuff in the future.