“Fiddle-de-dee’s not English.”

The way things are going, this year could end up being The Great Year of Re-reading!

OK. I haven’t been posting much. Rather, I haven’t been posting anything here. I’m feeling rather vague and not very committed to doing anything at the moment, but not writing anything here leaves me feeling cranky. I want to join challenges and make lists, but I keep making excuses, so here I am rambling about nothing.

Uh.

The Great Year of Re-reading! There’s where I was. I’ll get back to that in a bit.

It’s the end of January, almost, and I still haven’t read much. Not as much as I want to, and I haven’t been paying attention much to the blog or the community lately. I am ashamed. Weekly Geeks have started again (we miss you, Dewey) and I still haven’t participated. I’ll try to cook up a post and visit after this!

Books in January

I finished a few books. Here we go with short recaps with very little chance of a longer, critical review coming forth. I’ve decided I’m bad at reviews! Links are to the respective editions at GoodReads.

1. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

I think this is the first Rushdie book I finished. I think I started The Moor’s Last Sigh but got nowhere with that one. The story is about one Salem Sinai (and his family, and more) and his overly large nose who was born at midnight on the day of India’s independence. Yes, there’s more to it than that.

I liked the book, but it took me so long to finish it. It was partly because I was busy and partly because it was a bit hard to parse.

2. Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer

This one I picked up on a whim. I saw Heyer’s books at a bookstore and thought, “Hey I know some people who love Georgette Heyer,” and their tastes were quite compatible with mine, so I stopped at the shelf. Then I noticed that Heyer was a very prolific writer and I was overwhelmed and my mind drew a blank — I couldn’t think of a single title that came recommended. I was about to walk away from the shelf when I steeled myself and looked through the books, and ended up with Royal Escape because it sounded like it had action and adventure.

And it had a lot of adventure, if not much action. The story is about the escape of Charles II from Oliver Cromwell (this is where my history fails me; I have no idea what caused what and why Charles was escaping from anyone and I’ll admit, to my shame, I didn’t really look things up even after I finished the book). It was an easy read — I finished it in two nights, reading it before I went to bed. I shall look up what actually comes recommended by Heyer and tackle that next.

3. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones

On the preliminary pages there’s a list of other Tough Guides. Which I don’t think actually exist. I saw one title: The Tough Guide to Transport in the Multiverse (mostly by Telephone Box) which made me snort with laughter — and I hadn’t even started the book proper at that point!

Despite ending up literally laughing out loud while reading the book, this one took even longer to finish than Midnight’s Children. It was funny and really, really fun . . . in small doses. It gets a bit repetitive after a while since it’s formatted like an encyclopaedia and all, especially if you read every entry. Skipping about makes it more fun, I think. (Just look up Eternal Quest; you’ll end up groaning at the definition.)

If you’ve read a lot of fantasy novels (like I have) you’ll find yourself chuckling at the clichés. Probably a good guide to have if you’re writing a fantasy novel (or trilogy, or, heaven forbid, a twelve-book cycle and die just before you finish the last one) just to make sure you’re not repeating the same things everyone has said before. XD

4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick

I am glad I liked this! I end up so frustrated when I read these so called “cult classics” or “ground-breaking novels” and end up thinking, “Well, that was OK, but what’s the fuss about?” that I’m beginning to lose faith in lists and recommendations. I like lists with many, many books in them. I like it even more if I know I can trust those lists! (Yes, I know they don’t account personal tastes and all, but I don’t really have that many friends who read who can recommend me books.)

I’ve never watched Blade Runner. Should I?

5. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I love this book. I have no other excuse. I don’t remember how many times I’ve reread it, but I’ve blogged about it at least once. Howl is perfectly ridiculous. Sophie being a cantankerous old lady is great fun. Calcifer and his hints — goodness, he gave a lot, didn’t he, it was just that Sophie had no idea what she was supposed to look out for.

And I’m pretty slow on the uptake. Some pieces just clicked this time around — I’ve just realised how old Howl is (a little over 27) not that it’s important but it should’ve been obvious if I had paid attention; now I wonder if we were actually told who cleft the devil’s foot. (What devil?) I am rambling. Never mind. Perhaps I’ll post again about Howl’s Moving Castle, comparing the film and the book, since I watched it the nth time with my siblings and still couldn’t make much sense of it.

What d’ya mean, re-reads?

Back to my original point about it being a year of re-reads — I’ve already re-read one book: Howl’s Moving Castle. I’m currently re-reading both Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. I’m tempted to add more but I already have too many new books on my plate.

But. BUT! Looking at the re-read for Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series going on here is leaving me tempted to re-read the books. It will probably take forever, though the target is to finish the rereading before the last book, Memory of Light, is published this fall. (Also the snark in the discussion delights me. These people love RJ and the series, but they’re willing to make fun of it and of themselves while still being analytical, and not kill each other when they’re trying to determine whether Nyneave or Egwene is the more annoying of the girls. Also there will probably be a count on how many time someone crosses her arms beneath her breasts.)

I can’t find the tenth volume of the series, Light (that’s the right terminology, yes?) help me if I could get the titles of the fifth book onwards straight. We own all the books. It’s not with any of my siblings and no one in his or her right mind would be borrowing just the tenth book in the series without reading the previous nine, so we’re kinda stumped to where it went missing. I hope it turns up when (or if) I ever get to it in the process of rereading. Which, I am gloomily predicting, will probably end up being the process of skimming-through-the-chapters-very-fast-and-getting-really-annoyed-at-the-female-characters. Jordan seems to equate “strong female characters” to “female characters who bully the dudes” and it sets me off sometimes. A lot of times. Most times, I guess. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, if ever.

Too ambitious, this rereading project. That’s what I think. But hey, why not give it a go? XD;

.

- - -

Gong Xi Fa Cai, by the way. Have a good year of the ox. :)

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Houghton Mifflin (1993)
192 pages

This is one of those books that I don’t really have anything much to say about. It seems like everyone has read the book, and most of those who have read it loved it. I liked it a lot, though it won’t make it into any sort of favourite books lists of mine. I especially liked the main character, Jonas.

This book won the Newbery Medal in 1994.

It’s the future, and everything is perfect. No issues, no problems. Family members get together and talk about their feelings, everyone is polite, there’s no hunger or poverty or war, and everything is carefully planned and executed. Everything and everyone is equal, the same, normal. Welcome to the future: utopia has never been this flawed.

Everything starts out very smoothly. Jonas’s community seemed like a very nice place to live in, and I began to wonder what was wrong with this world Lowry has created. After a while, though, the sameness of everything gets a bit disquieting, and when I realised what was missing — colours, memory, music, truth, human emotions — I was rather freaked out by the whole thing. Jonas’s father and the baby that was released was bad enough, but when Jonas’s parents just laugh when he asks whether they love him, it gave me a shudder. Use another word, they say. “Love” is not a precise word, they say: “[it's] a very generalised word, so meaningless it’s become almost obsolete”.

Lovely little place, this utopia. Looks like I’m not moving there after all. Any list about books concerning dystopian fiction should have The Giver in it, that’s what I think.

I like the ending, uncertain as it is. Not only Jonas gets to make his choice and struggle with what comes with it, we get to decide ourselves what happens. It left me thinking long after I closed the book.

I have the other two books by Lois Lowry which are loosely related to The Giver in my reading list: Gathering Blue and Messenger. I think I’ll also pick up Lowry’s Number the Stars one of these days.

Starcross: A Stirring Tale of British Vim upon the Seas of Space and Time! by Philip Reeve
Illustrated by David Wyatt
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (2007)
380 pages

Oh, this left me giggling almost the whole way. Maybe it’s because the last few books I had read before it were so serious, and it was a relief to read about the more light-hearted adventures of Art and Myrtle. I loved the narrative here as much as I loved it in Larklight, and that’s saying something because stuff in the first person often rubs me the wrong way.

My copy had three lines of titles (Starcross or The Coming of the Moobs! or Our Adventures in the Fourth Dimension — A Stirring Tale of British Vim upon the Seas of Space and Time!) and I had grinned just looking at those. What other narrator could be as droll as Art? And who else would ever use the word “amanuensis” on a title page of a book? I love the title pages and the ads on the inside covers and the chapter titles — I spent a lot of time on both Larklight and Starcross studying those inside covers and the illustrations and having a laugh over them.

As for the story itself, I enjoyed Starcross better than Larklight, though I think the story was stronger in Larklight. In this instalment, we find Art and Myrtle and their mother visiting the hotel Starcross, where strange things are happening. Some old friends make a reappearance . . . and disappear in forms you won’t expect them in. The family vacation ends up with Art and Myrtle having to save the universe. (Again.)

The patriotism and the Victorian sensibilities were absurd and relevant and fun at the same time. I love Myrtle best when she forgets to be “sensible”, and her decision at the end made me cheer. I spent some time reading this book sputtering at Jack. Pirate or not, you better learn how to treat a your lady, young man! And I wonder how Art could be so smart and yet so dense when it comes to Jack/Myrtle. The footnote about how Jack must be using How to Write Love Letters: A Guide for the Perplexed to prop a wobbly table sent me choking with laughter. The joys of being young.

There will be a sequel to this, obviously. I have reliable sources saying that the sequel, Mothstorm, will be out this year. One does not leave his readers gaping at a pirate’s behaviour towards his lady friend, when said lady friend has declared Ambitions of her own. How could you leave us with such a cliffhanger, Mr Reeve!

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle
SquareFish (2007)
224 pages

Hm. This was one strange book. Maybe I’m just too jaded — my imagination refuses to go with the images and themes this book presents . . . is that the price of growing older?

I read this book very early in January 2008. The details are already vague right now, and I am tempted to just skip this and the next few books. Fortunately (or not so fortunately), I found this entry under the heading 3 Jan in my planner: “A Wind in the Door (ref to Malory?) by M L’Engle” in my messy scrawl, and the following notes: “perhaps too heavy-handed at points? YA lit, SF, likeable characters, slightly ‘out there’ concepts”. :P I guess I meant the mitochondria part. That gave me strange flashbacks to a book by Isaac Asimov I read once upon a time ago — I can’t even remember what it’s called now. I can’t recall anymore which parts struck me as heavy-handed.

The edition I read has a really lovely cover — in the same style as the one for A Wrinkle in Time. Looking at it actually made me recall more of the plot! Like the first book, A Wind in the Door is well written. Despite the whole plot being rather surreal, it’s a good adventure story, with a lot of interesting new characters. I love Meg even more. She’s such a brave girl. I’m surprised I still like Charles Wallace; I tend to dislike precocious children in fiction, especially the really, really, really smart ones, but he’s just so pleasant and trusting and well-meaning. He reminds me of my brother a bit.

I’m not sure if I care enough to read the rest of the quartet. anchan218 says she did like Many Waters, and another friend loves A Swiftly Tilting Planet, so I’ll probably have a go at them if I manage to find a copy at the library.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
SquareFish (2007)
248 pages

This is one of those books that I kept on thinking I had read as a child. I had not: my memory was playing tricks on me, because I’m pretty sure I would have remembered something as enchanting as this, and I would have probably appreciated it more if I had read this when I was younger. I wonder if the only reason why I never found this in my primary school library was because of its allegories of Christianity? If nothing else, that school — and the whole education system, let’s just admit it — had always been way too conservative when it came to religion.

Oh, there’s nothing wrong with reading it as an adult (but I am 27 going on 12, so maybe you should take that with a grain of salt) — the language is simple but the message is profound. Meg Murry is visited one dark and stormy night by an old lady, and she finds herself, her brother Charles Wallace and their friend Calvin O’Keefe going on a journey to find Meg’s father and save the universe. It’s a coming-of-age story about a lot of things: about friendship, and being different and being tolerant, and good versus evil, and how love does conquer all, sometimes. I adored Meg, even when she was being clingy and afraid and angry when she realises that her father is not able to save them all and he doesn’t have the answers to everything. (Oh, I know how that feels. You have nothing but overflowing belief in your parental figures, but there’s a time when you realise that oh. Oh, they’re not infallible after all. The world sorts of comes apart at that point, and the pieces fit back, later, but not so perfectly any more.)

Religious overtones? Sure. But that didn’t set me off — it’s more . . . spiritual than focussing on any religion, despite the quotes; nothing that would have had me running for cover, even on my more cynical days.

The ending was a bit of a rush. I was startled it ended where it did, despite it being the first book in a series and all that.

The cover illustration is really lovely. I wouldn’t mind owning the box set containing this and the next three books.

.

––
Uh. Consider the many many posts coming after this as the 2007 home stretch. (I know, I know — it’s already the third month of the new year and I’m still slogging through the backlog. Slacker.)