Thursday, April 29, 2004
Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone - JK Rowling
I don't think that there is much I could say about this book that has not already been said many, many times.
I have read the first four before, but picked this one up again and finished it off in an afternoon. I am always interested to see how successful children's and young adult authors manage to tell their story imaginatively, and descriptively and yet retain simplicity.
The series doesn't blow me away. It is adequately written, and fun in parts, but it doesn't really have enough to keep me interested. It could be brain candy, but I am older now and much prefer fight scenes and sex in my candy.
I am, however, fully aware that these are children's books, and the fact that I am not head over heels about them is completely understandable. But I miss the magic I felt when I was younger and reading books like these. Fantastic Mr Fox, and Matilda were amazing.
I don't think that JK Rowling is able to compete with Roald Dahl, and hope that children who are interested in reading Harry Potter are pointed his way; and to Paul Jennings, and John Marsden and the myriad of authors that are writing good fiction for younger people.
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon though.
I have read the first four before, but picked this one up again and finished it off in an afternoon. I am always interested to see how successful children's and young adult authors manage to tell their story imaginatively, and descriptively and yet retain simplicity.
The series doesn't blow me away. It is adequately written, and fun in parts, but it doesn't really have enough to keep me interested. It could be brain candy, but I am older now and much prefer fight scenes and sex in my candy.
I am, however, fully aware that these are children's books, and the fact that I am not head over heels about them is completely understandable. But I miss the magic I felt when I was younger and reading books like these. Fantastic Mr Fox, and Matilda were amazing.
I don't think that JK Rowling is able to compete with Roald Dahl, and hope that children who are interested in reading Harry Potter are pointed his way; and to Paul Jennings, and John Marsden and the myriad of authors that are writing good fiction for younger people.
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon though.
Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
I have noticed that a lot of what I am currently reading is not strictly fantasy, although most of it does have definite speculative fiction leanings. I am a bit worried about the relevance of my blog title, and am thinking about changing it, but for now anyone who happens to stumble randomly into this blog will just have to accept the fact that I am going to post about everything I read and not just the fantasy.
The introduction to this edition of Picture of Dorian Gray was actually quite good. It gave pertinent information about the author and examined the themes of the text in the way I could actually understand. It was a pleasant surprise, as most of the introductions to literary works I have read make me feel as if I need a PhD in literature just to understand them. (I bought a copy of Ulysses by James Joyce a couple of years ago, and haven't even made it to the start of the story for this exact reason.) This introduction does shed quite a healthy amount of doubt on how much of the work is of Wilde's original invention, and it does appear that he was heavily influenced by some of his contempories.
The story started and from the second paragraph I was concerned that I was going to have to plough through a pile of pretentious literary dribble. It was one of those paragraphs were thoughts are strung together with commas and semi-colons until you get to the point were the words have lost all meaning and the thread of the sentence has disappeared what feels like half a page ago. But I was pleasantly surprised. This paragraph was the exception rather than the rule. Perhaps he was trying to prove his literary credentials early in the piece by including the monstrosity. Anyway after he stopped playing tricks I was able to quite enjoy the writing.
The story follows the life of Dorian Gray and his companions Lord Henry, and Basil. Lord Henry is beguiled by Dorian's beauty and drags him into a morally ambiguous lifestyle. Basil paints a portrait of Dorian that captures the rapturous feelings that he has around the young man. Dorian mourns the fact that while he is destined to grow old and have his beauty wither, the portrait will always be young and virile. His wish that he and the painting could trade places in this way is mysteriously granted.
Dorian's immoral transgressions are shown up in the deteriotion of the painting and while his decline haunts him somewhat, it is applauded by Lord Henry. But there is plenty of musing about the relative benefits of beauty and intellect. And I'll take that as a good place to throw in a few quotes that I lilked. They do show the gist of the thoughts that the novel raises.
We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.
There is luxury in self reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us.
We live in an age that reads too much to be wise, and that thinks too much to be beautiful.
But it is good to be able to say that I have read this, and perhaps better to be able to say that I actually enjoyed it. There was enough plot to actually carry the internal examinations without the story bogging down interminably.
Too much time has passed since I finished the book for me to remember too many particulars, so I think I will have to make a greater effort to cut the time between finishing reading a book and sitting down to write about it. It's just hard to give up reading time to write stuff. Something I shall have to fix.
Later edit -
I have found some more quotes from this book that I enjoyed, and may as well put them up here, although I doubt anyone will ever read this low. But I must remember to do a back up for my own files. I'd hate to lose the entire blog if blogger goes belly up for some reason.
She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray, with his beautiful eyes, looked down at her, and his chiselled lips curled in exquisite disdain.
We woman, as some one says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes, if you love at all.
Each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion.
Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact.
There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating - people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.
I felt that this grey, monstrous London of ours, with its myriad of people, its sordid sinners, and its splendid sins, as you once phrased it, must have something in store for me.
There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
No woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.
The introduction to this edition of Picture of Dorian Gray was actually quite good. It gave pertinent information about the author and examined the themes of the text in the way I could actually understand. It was a pleasant surprise, as most of the introductions to literary works I have read make me feel as if I need a PhD in literature just to understand them. (I bought a copy of Ulysses by James Joyce a couple of years ago, and haven't even made it to the start of the story for this exact reason.) This introduction does shed quite a healthy amount of doubt on how much of the work is of Wilde's original invention, and it does appear that he was heavily influenced by some of his contempories.
The story started and from the second paragraph I was concerned that I was going to have to plough through a pile of pretentious literary dribble. It was one of those paragraphs were thoughts are strung together with commas and semi-colons until you get to the point were the words have lost all meaning and the thread of the sentence has disappeared what feels like half a page ago. But I was pleasantly surprised. This paragraph was the exception rather than the rule. Perhaps he was trying to prove his literary credentials early in the piece by including the monstrosity. Anyway after he stopped playing tricks I was able to quite enjoy the writing.
The story follows the life of Dorian Gray and his companions Lord Henry, and Basil. Lord Henry is beguiled by Dorian's beauty and drags him into a morally ambiguous lifestyle. Basil paints a portrait of Dorian that captures the rapturous feelings that he has around the young man. Dorian mourns the fact that while he is destined to grow old and have his beauty wither, the portrait will always be young and virile. His wish that he and the painting could trade places in this way is mysteriously granted.
Dorian's immoral transgressions are shown up in the deteriotion of the painting and while his decline haunts him somewhat, it is applauded by Lord Henry. But there is plenty of musing about the relative benefits of beauty and intellect. And I'll take that as a good place to throw in a few quotes that I lilked. They do show the gist of the thoughts that the novel raises.
We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.
There is luxury in self reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us.
We live in an age that reads too much to be wise, and that thinks too much to be beautiful.
But it is good to be able to say that I have read this, and perhaps better to be able to say that I actually enjoyed it. There was enough plot to actually carry the internal examinations without the story bogging down interminably.
Too much time has passed since I finished the book for me to remember too many particulars, so I think I will have to make a greater effort to cut the time between finishing reading a book and sitting down to write about it. It's just hard to give up reading time to write stuff. Something I shall have to fix.
Later edit -
I have found some more quotes from this book that I enjoyed, and may as well put them up here, although I doubt anyone will ever read this low. But I must remember to do a back up for my own files. I'd hate to lose the entire blog if blogger goes belly up for some reason.
She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray, with his beautiful eyes, looked down at her, and his chiselled lips curled in exquisite disdain.
We woman, as some one says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes, if you love at all.
Each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion.
Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact.
There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating - people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.
I felt that this grey, monstrous London of ours, with its myriad of people, its sordid sinners, and its splendid sins, as you once phrased it, must have something in store for me.
There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
No woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
I have always been slightly worried about works that are translated from the original language in which they are written. How much does the story change? How much of the poetry of the original prose is lost? But I think with this book translation was not a significant problem. The complexity is not in the prose itself - which is in fact very simple - but in the ideas and concepts that it tackles.
(Note - It has been a number of weeks since I read this so I may be a bit inaccurate in the exact details)
The book follows the travels of a Spanish shepherd whose determination and single mindedness in searching for his heart's desire eventually leads him into the African desert. He keeps an open mind and reads the portents that are given to him to lead him in his life. The story is amazing simple yet it is filled with thought provoking philospohical tidbits. As I rushed through it reasonably quickly the first time, it is definitely something that I will need to re-read.
There are a number of quotes that I enjoyed enough to transcribe. I will list these here as I think there is less chance of me losing them here then on the scrap of paper where they currently reside. Some of the meaning is eroded as I have had to place these out of the context in which they occur within the book.
The darkest hour of night comes just before the dawn.
When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.
Your eyes show the strength of your soul.
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
Death doesn't change anything.
Each thing performs its own exact function as a unique being, and everything would be a symphony of peace if the hand that wrote all this haad stopped on the fifth day of creation.
When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.
Definitely worth a re-read.
(Note - It has been a number of weeks since I read this so I may be a bit inaccurate in the exact details)
The book follows the travels of a Spanish shepherd whose determination and single mindedness in searching for his heart's desire eventually leads him into the African desert. He keeps an open mind and reads the portents that are given to him to lead him in his life. The story is amazing simple yet it is filled with thought provoking philospohical tidbits. As I rushed through it reasonably quickly the first time, it is definitely something that I will need to re-read.
There are a number of quotes that I enjoyed enough to transcribe. I will list these here as I think there is less chance of me losing them here then on the scrap of paper where they currently reside. Some of the meaning is eroded as I have had to place these out of the context in which they occur within the book.
The darkest hour of night comes just before the dawn.
When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.
Your eyes show the strength of your soul.
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
Death doesn't change anything.
Each thing performs its own exact function as a unique being, and everything would be a symphony of peace if the hand that wrote all this haad stopped on the fifth day of creation.
When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.
Definitely worth a re-read.
More than Human - Theodore Sturgeon
While reading this book I had a number of people ask me what it was about and I really struggled to even convey the most basic plot outline. I will attempt to do slightly better here, but fear I will fail again.
The book follows the development of Homo Gestalt, a group of humans that function as one entity, a perfect symbiosis, and the next step in human evolution. There is a girl with telekinetic powers, twin negro girls who can teleport (but not with their clothes), a mongoloid baby who can answer any question you can ask, (although he can't talk, and his answers must be passed through Janie, the telekine), an older simpleton who can hear people's thoughts, and acts as the head of homo gestalt until his death and replacement by a young male telepath, and a sixth moral member is also added. Quite an amazing premise for a book written in the 1950's.
My poor rendering of the plot may make it seem a rather complex book, and it is. It is written in three separate, and quite different parts, the second of which was originally a stand-alone novella called 'Baby is Three'. The writing is beautiful, and while at times I was confused about exactly what was going on plotwise, the elegance of the prose was sufficient to distract me. It is a novel you never feel you have your head completely around, there is always something that keeps you thinking. Sturgeon examines the traumatic formation of the gestalt and the way in which it functions, and in the final part tackles the very foundations of human morals and how they would or could apply to a being such as the gestalt.
But it is definitely a very, very good book, and deserves to be thought of as a classic. I can only think that the genre is what has stopped this novel getting the literary notice it deserves.
The book follows the development of Homo Gestalt, a group of humans that function as one entity, a perfect symbiosis, and the next step in human evolution. There is a girl with telekinetic powers, twin negro girls who can teleport (but not with their clothes), a mongoloid baby who can answer any question you can ask, (although he can't talk, and his answers must be passed through Janie, the telekine), an older simpleton who can hear people's thoughts, and acts as the head of homo gestalt until his death and replacement by a young male telepath, and a sixth moral member is also added. Quite an amazing premise for a book written in the 1950's.
My poor rendering of the plot may make it seem a rather complex book, and it is. It is written in three separate, and quite different parts, the second of which was originally a stand-alone novella called 'Baby is Three'. The writing is beautiful, and while at times I was confused about exactly what was going on plotwise, the elegance of the prose was sufficient to distract me. It is a novel you never feel you have your head completely around, there is always something that keeps you thinking. Sturgeon examines the traumatic formation of the gestalt and the way in which it functions, and in the final part tackles the very foundations of human morals and how they would or could apply to a being such as the gestalt.
But it is definitely a very, very good book, and deserves to be thought of as a classic. I can only think that the genre is what has stopped this novel getting the literary notice it deserves.
Thursday, April 15, 2004
New Spring - Robert Jordan
If I have a weakness as a reader it must be my inability to stop reading everything that this man writes. The first book in his Wheel of Time Series, The Eye of the World, remains one of my favourite books of all time, but its brilliance is starting to wear thin. The fact that he has now paused in completing the series to write a prequel (and in fact what is rumored to be a trilogy of prequels) is somewhat of a slap in the face for all his fans.
That said this book lacks the complexity and slow pace that hampered the main series through books 6,7,8 and 9. But while it is better, it is not good.
In true Jordan style (or at least his style of late) there is a lot of lead up, filled with repitition that borders on ridiculous before a helter skelter final chapter/s where everything actually happens. New Spring is much shorter than his other books, but still feels as if it could have been told in half the space.
It provides some interesting background to the main series, and the added insight into Moraine, Siuan and Lan (amongst others) is welcome, but unnecessary. I see this as nothing more than blatant exercise in money grabbing, and while I will admit it is successful (I am $20 poorer) my respect for Jordan is wearing out.
I would recommend borrowing this book from a friend who is as hooked as I am only if you have read the rest of the series. If you haven't read RJ before I would suggest pretending that he has only written four books (Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising) and you may remain happier than me.
That said this book lacks the complexity and slow pace that hampered the main series through books 6,7,8 and 9. But while it is better, it is not good.
In true Jordan style (or at least his style of late) there is a lot of lead up, filled with repitition that borders on ridiculous before a helter skelter final chapter/s where everything actually happens. New Spring is much shorter than his other books, but still feels as if it could have been told in half the space.
It provides some interesting background to the main series, and the added insight into Moraine, Siuan and Lan (amongst others) is welcome, but unnecessary. I see this as nothing more than blatant exercise in money grabbing, and while I will admit it is successful (I am $20 poorer) my respect for Jordan is wearing out.
I would recommend borrowing this book from a friend who is as hooked as I am only if you have read the rest of the series. If you haven't read RJ before I would suggest pretending that he has only written four books (Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising) and you may remain happier than me.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
"The Stone Mage and the Sea" and "The Sky Warden and the Sun" - Sean Williams
Another Australian fantasy author who I heard talk at the Brisbane Writer's Festival. He has also co-written some Star Wars books, I am not sure if I think that is a good, or a bad thing.
My general apathy and laziness has caused this review to be posted several weeks after finishing the books, and conequently much of the detail will be mssing. The fact that I only have vague recollections of the books also points to the fact that they don't really stand out. They also probably fit into the YA category. The two main characters are in their early teens. The first book was nominated for the Aurealis fantasy award (the Aurealis awards are held annually for Australian speculative; horror, fantasy, and sci-fi have separate categories), and the third book in the series won it.
The first thing you notice about this books is the amazing cover design. Some of the best pictures I have seen, and in another first for fantasy novels - they are actually relevant to the story. If you are interested the illustrator is Shaun Tan. The pictures can be viewed here and here. There doesnt seem to be much on the net about him and unfortunately he shares his name with a mind reader who has nabbed www.shauntan.com. But it is good to see a quality Aussie artist drawing Aussie fantasy covers. I have noticed that this review is taking on a slightly overly patriotic slant, but I am not going to apologise. I am unashamed in my love of Australia and all things Down Under.
The most memorable thing about the books themselves is definitely the landscapes. The story takes place in a world that is geographically very similar to southern and central Australia, and as the author is an Adelaide local it is easy to see where he gets his inspiration from. This change in scenery from your standard western European fantasy milieu is refreshing, and to be applauded, but I think that Australia critics and readers need to be careful that this does overly bias them in their reception of the book.
For me the prose felt jolty, it suffered very badly in comparison to Kim Wilkins lovely flow I had read previously. The sentences were often elongated by excessive (in my opinion) use of commas and semi-colons. eg -->
Putting the incident behind him, he headed west, parallel to where he knew the beach to be, although it was hidden by dunes on that side; he wasn't ready to face the sea, either.
As I went further through the books this seemed to become less of a problem though, and there are some good pieces of writing in there as well.
They had been studiously ignoring each other all morning. It took a great deal of his attention.
Another problem I had was the youth of the characters, I just didn't connect with them at all. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt and claim that is was their ages, and not poor characterisation that caused this distance. So while the plot was moderately interesting I found it difficult to get involved.
Overall the books were adequate, neither really good nor really bad. Definitely something that kids in lower secondary school could be reading after they have discovered Tolkien. The Australian setting is something that I would hope more people could be exposed to, possibly encouraging more people to write about it. I have wondered if it is our lack of 'civilised' history and a caution about treading on Aboriginal toes that is preventing more writers from using these landscapes. I don't know, but I would like to see more of it.
My general apathy and laziness has caused this review to be posted several weeks after finishing the books, and conequently much of the detail will be mssing. The fact that I only have vague recollections of the books also points to the fact that they don't really stand out. They also probably fit into the YA category. The two main characters are in their early teens. The first book was nominated for the Aurealis fantasy award (the Aurealis awards are held annually for Australian speculative; horror, fantasy, and sci-fi have separate categories), and the third book in the series won it.
The first thing you notice about this books is the amazing cover design. Some of the best pictures I have seen, and in another first for fantasy novels - they are actually relevant to the story. If you are interested the illustrator is Shaun Tan. The pictures can be viewed here and here. There doesnt seem to be much on the net about him and unfortunately he shares his name with a mind reader who has nabbed www.shauntan.com. But it is good to see a quality Aussie artist drawing Aussie fantasy covers. I have noticed that this review is taking on a slightly overly patriotic slant, but I am not going to apologise. I am unashamed in my love of Australia and all things Down Under.
The most memorable thing about the books themselves is definitely the landscapes. The story takes place in a world that is geographically very similar to southern and central Australia, and as the author is an Adelaide local it is easy to see where he gets his inspiration from. This change in scenery from your standard western European fantasy milieu is refreshing, and to be applauded, but I think that Australia critics and readers need to be careful that this does overly bias them in their reception of the book.
For me the prose felt jolty, it suffered very badly in comparison to Kim Wilkins lovely flow I had read previously. The sentences were often elongated by excessive (in my opinion) use of commas and semi-colons. eg -->
Putting the incident behind him, he headed west, parallel to where he knew the beach to be, although it was hidden by dunes on that side; he wasn't ready to face the sea, either.
As I went further through the books this seemed to become less of a problem though, and there are some good pieces of writing in there as well.
They had been studiously ignoring each other all morning. It took a great deal of his attention.
Another problem I had was the youth of the characters, I just didn't connect with them at all. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt and claim that is was their ages, and not poor characterisation that caused this distance. So while the plot was moderately interesting I found it difficult to get involved.
Overall the books were adequate, neither really good nor really bad. Definitely something that kids in lower secondary school could be reading after they have discovered Tolkien. The Australian setting is something that I would hope more people could be exposed to, possibly encouraging more people to write about it. I have wondered if it is our lack of 'civilised' history and a caution about treading on Aboriginal toes that is preventing more writers from using these landscapes. I don't know, but I would like to see more of it.
