I Did Some More Reading

This weekend I basically hid myself between the covers of several books. I had no desire to even pretend that I was capable of functioning after last week. Since a large chunk of Friday was spent working, whimpering about the 2 checks I got to write so that I could have my car back, and then watching"Constantine" and "Steam Boy" with exMI, that day was as close as I got to being functional. Since I ended up regretting that wonderful tasting Brunswick stew I had from Vandy's, Saturday was especially appalling.

BUT! I did manage to ignore my woes by reading. What did I read you ask? Well, 1st I read Jim Butcher's Academ's Fury. If you have not read anything by him, get your local library to find it for you and make your own decision. The link to his website with far better write ups than I can give is on the side bar. I love his stuff. It is blatantly obvious what is happening but the development of the characters is why I enjoy the books.

I admit that I really have no problem with formula writing. What I can not stand is when the characters are stagnant and only go from 1 scene to the other & repeat themselves endlessly. To go back to my favorite example, Laurell Hamilton's books were interesting because the characters were growing up and realizing that the world is not all black & white, along with that hard truth to not only swallow but remember that your truth is not the other person's truth. But then Hamilton discovered the wonderful world of soft porn and has gone down that road with increasing glee ever since.

Next, I read Laurence Yep's The Tiger's Apprentice. The write up at work reads like this, "A tiger, a monkey, a dragon, and a twelve-year-old Chinese American boy fight to keep a magic talisman out of the hands of an enemy who would use its power to destroy the world." I enjoyed it because not only is Yep an excellent writer, but I enjoy reading about world myths and the different interpretations and emphasizes each culture gives the myths.

I then read Isabel Allende's City of Beasts and Kingdom of the Gold Dragon. These are Isabel Allende's 1st children's books. I picked them up because I adore her other books. The House of Spirits being just one of them, but probably the one most Anglo's would recognize thanks to the movie version with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. These were fascinating reads just because of the sheer research that was done by the author and then the translator just to get every detail right. I wish that I read Spanish because I know that the originals are vastly better than these translations, yet these were great reads.

The details about these is that the main character is your typical California small town kid whose mother has been diagnosed with cancer. She has to go in for treatments so he ends up with his rather eccentric (not to mention difficult) grandmother, Kate, who is a photographer for National Geographic. He ends up going on assignment with her and each book is devoted to the adventures, friends, lessons, and experiences they have while they travel. The first book they end up in the Amazon and the other they end up in a small kingdom in the Himalayas'. The details were absolutely incredible and I can't say enough good things about them.

I also read the mysteries by Pat McIntosh - Harper's Quine and The Nichoalus Feast. Those were good but because my knowledge of medieval Scottish life is only so deep, there were nuances that I just did not get, especially were language was concerned. I know what a bannock and haggis is, but some of the local color in the form of language had me puzzled. If you are a fan of mysteries based in medieval times and like Scottish history, then I can recommend these. If not, then do not touch them. I liked them, but then again, I like Ellis Peters and Brother Cadfael.

I changed cultures and went to a mystery set in Montana dealing with Native American Indians and dinosaurs. That one, well, skip it. Carnasaur Crimes by Christine Gentry is not worth it. I was bored to the point I skipped chapters and barely read the last paragraph.

I went back to YA literature and read the Lion Boy books by Zizou Corder. Those were another series that I enjoyed not only because they dealt with a boy who could talk with cats, but because a lot of African myths were mixed in and it was a wonderful combination of futuristic worlds with science and fantasy, all mixed in to an adventure where the hero is a lot smarter than anyone gives him credit for. The only big problem was the heavy handed political messages slathered in to the story. If you can ignore those, then it was a good story. The political stance taken was way too heavy handed, even for me in desperate need of a place to mentally hide. I still enjoyed the books & intend to read the conclusion, but I would never buy them and I'd warn anyone reading them for the 1st time that there are some serious political opinions being put forth.

Other than some mental hiding in fantasy land, I did nothing exciting. I turned my cell phone off, picked blue berries, cleaned my home really well, cleaned a few closets out, took lots of naps, and generally did nothing but turn in to a vegetable. I seriously recommend the practice when life throws one too many curve balls your way.