Book Reports

[icepixie]

Stop whatever you're doing and go find a copy of John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things. It's part Narnia, part Alice in Wonderland, a bit Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and entirely awesome. Plus it's filled with creepy-ass subversions of fairy tales that will make you shiver with delight. The story itself, aided by the densely descriptive prose, has such a cinematic feel that I'm shocked it hasn't been turned into a movie yet. (Wikipedia informs me that one is in development, but has been so for four years now...hmmm.) My only criticism is that the ending felt the tiniest bit pat, but the rest of the book was so good that I don't even care. Read it. Now. Really.

Slightly less urgent but still worthwhile is Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi. This was hugely popular when it came out earlier this decade, and now I see why. It's hard to describe exactly what's so wonderful about it--maybe I could just say that Nafisi synthesizes her obvious love of literature, teaching, and history, as well as parts of the western canon and of Iranian culture and politics, into something remarkable--but English majors, y'all need to read this.

On the other hand, something immensely popular to run away from is Paul Coelho's The Alchemist. I probably should've been tipped off by the subtitle ("A Fable About Following Your Dreams"), but sadly, I was not. This is a New Agey self-help book poorly disguised as a novel. The characters are stand-ins for ideas, the dialogue is largely made up of long speeches that could have come from some kind of wacky spiritual treatise, and much of what they were saying to each other made me want to beat my head against a wall. However, I did finish the book, for two reasons: it's short, so what did I have to lose but an hour or two, and Coelho's (or more accurately Coelho's and his translator's) language is lovely. He did great things with all the settings. Now if only there had been real characters to move among them.

Finally, something I'm not exactly recommending because I imagine most of you have read it before, but I finally got around to reading Anne of Green Gables last week, only about twenty years late. I'm not quite sure how I missed it as a child, and it's unfortunate that I did, because I would've loved it as a nine-year-old or so.* It is a bit too much of a children's novel to enjoy as wholeheartedly now as I would have then, but I did find Anne and everyone else in it extremely charming. Not quite charming enough to read the rest of the books in the series, but nevertheless.


* Though my favorite fictional redhead would still have to be Pippi Longstocking. Oh, how I wanted to be Annika and have Pippi as a friend when I was seven. Heh, I think even then I knew she was just too exciting to actually want to be.

*

And in completely unrelated news, an entertaining TV production video: "What it takes to walk down a hallway on Burn Notice." No spoilers.

Comments

[whatawaytoburn]

Oh, Book Of Lost Things would make an absolutely gorgeous film. I actually had the pleasure of having that book read out loud to me (granted it was over the phone) and I absolutely loved it. I keep meaning to try and pick it up again, as it's been a few years since I've read it,,.

[icepixie]

It would be so pretty on the screen.

[celamity]

I got the entire Anne of Green Gables series a couple years ago from my mother. I loved the TV show as a child, but struggled to get through the books - mostly because of the more and more sueish way everyone else seemed to think of Anne (really, not having everyone's adoring thoughts about her spelled out would have made a world of difference) and because I couldn't stand Marilla's adopted twins - the girl because she wasn't a character at all, the boy because he was a caricature with no more actual personality than the girl, and the set of them because the good girl was somehow less lovable than the bad boy.

[icepixie]

That's too bad that they get sueish and annoying. Now I'm even less inclined to read the rest of the series.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Anne/Diane is thiiis close to canon femslash. I mean, I'm pretty sure the phrase "bosom friend" turns up at least once. ;)

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Oh, Anne of Green Gables. My childhood right there. My favorite is actually the third book, Anne of the Island - she goes away to college. Though I do pretty much read the entire series, even the later ones with her kids that no one else seems to like, just about once a year.

[icepixie]

So close AND YET SO FAR. I was rooting for them to move to Boston and have a Boston marriage. ;)

[icepixie]

I was glad to hear that she does eventually go off to college, even if I have no plans to read about it. :)

[alethialia.livejournal.com]

And in completely unrelated news, an entertaining TV production video: "What it takes to walk down a hallway on Burn Notice."

Dude, that's tame! Try a scene with anything more than two characters and you just want to shoot yourself in the face.

[icepixie]

One of the many reasons I will never work in film. "We spent eighteen hours filming today. We got six minutes of usable footage!"

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Stay far, far away from all things Paulo Coelho. As you have rightly guessed, that man doesn't write novels. He writes cheap, uninspiring self-help books thinly disguised as novels, which I hate with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

And you were a Pippi Longstocking fan at age 7? Awww. So was I! Have you ever read Ronja the Robber's Daughter, too? She's by far my favourite Lindgren heroine or just favourite heroine in children's fiction, hands down.

[singer-shaper.livejournal.com]

I read Reading Lolita in Tehran a few years ago, and part of the appeal for me is that it shows how literature can impact real life hundreds of years after it's written for an audience for whom it was definitely not intended. I actually like The Alchemist, but that's because of the Biblical references and because I read it for the first time in ninth grade (i.e. before I got skeptical). I also loved Anne of Green Gables as a kid, and I still read it with great nostalgia. I'll have to look for The Book of Lost Things after I graduate, when I actually have time to read for fun.

[icepixie]

Oh, I have no intention of reading anything else the man has written. This one was such a disappointment.

I feel like most girls might have been Pippi fans at age seven. It's the perfect age to get into her. :) I've never even heard of Ronja! Apparently it's spelled Ronia over here, and was available in translation when I was a kid, but I never saw it at my library. Pity. But I see they have it now, so I'll have to check it out.

[icepixie]

part of the appeal for me is that it shows how literature can impact real life hundreds of years after it's written for an audience for whom it was definitely not intended

Yes, I liked that as well.

...There were Biblical references in The Alchemist? Um. Heh, can you tell that tends to fly right over my head unless it's really, really obvious?

I'll have to look for The Book of Lost Things after I graduate, when I actually have time to read for fun.

I remember my first time reading for pleasure after grad school. It was a reread of Possession, and it was GLORIOUS.

(Speaking of graduation, did you get my PMs in response to your question?)

[singer-shaper.livejournal.com]

I did indeed get your PMs. Sorry for not responding!

The Biblical references are Old Testament: the Urim and Thumim are from Leviticus, Joseph from Genesis, and the idea of the shepherd as spiritual seeker is represented through Joseph, Moses, and David, among others.

Also: what does your icon mean?

[icepixie]

That's cool, I was just wondering if LJ had hiccuped again and not sent them. :)

Urim and Thumim definitely flew over my head (although I probably should've guessed, since I did catch the "shepherds were the first to understand the meaning of a new star" reference).

I got the icon from iconomicon, so I'm not sure where the original picture comes from--possibly he created it himself. Anyway, it's the solar system in an egg; the yolk is the sun, and the little glittery things around it are the planets. I don't know that it has any special meaning, but I thought it was really cool. :D

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

I did a double-take at this, because I read a book a couple years ago called In the Country of Last Things, which I was thinking for a second was what you meant. And which is something else entirely, except sort of not entirely difffernt, even thought it should be? It's hard to explain. Good, though.

Also, I totally wanted to be Pippi. For a kid who did pretty much everything by the book and didn't really chafe at it, I had a hellaciously rebellious fantasy life.

[icepixie]

For a kid who did pretty much everything by the book and didn't really chafe at it, I had a hellaciously rebellious fantasy life.

I was that kid too! My fantasy life wasn't as hellaciously rebellious as Pippi's life, though...I was definitely more of a tagalong. :D

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you do! There's also a really lovely 1980s screen adaptation of the book, but since it's a Swedish film, I don't if it's available in region 1 format with English subtitles.

[asinpterodactyl.livejournal.com]

I loved Pippi Longstocking too! It's been twenty years since I've read any Pippi books (twenty years? Gah! I'm old!) but I still remember them fondly.

I tried The Book of Lost Things a couple of months ago, and I couldn't finish it. I couldn't even get past the first two chapters, which were crushingly depressing. I kept telling myself "It'll get happier. It MUST get happier", but after a while I decided to quit and preserve what little happiness I had left.

Speaking of things Iranian, have you read Persepolis (http://books.google.com/books?id=x05hPgAACAAJ)? It's a memoir about growing up in Iran, and it's told in comics. If you don't mind the comic format, you might like it.

[icepixie]

I kept telling myself "It'll get happier. It MUST get happier", but after a while I decided to quit and preserve what little happiness I had left.

It does, actually, get happier! There is one disturbing section in the middle, but once David gets into the fairy tale world, in general it's not that dark. The ending is bittersweet. (Caveat: I didn't think the first two chapters were particularly depressing, so my scale may be calibrated differently than yours.)

As a rule, I dislike graphic novels, but Perseopolis looks interesting. Thanks!