2008 Reads: #201-250: May 1-June 15, 2008

In this grouping, which took me longer than the previous ones this year, there were 12 books written or edited by women, 7 books read in Spanish, 1 in a bilingual Portuguese/English edition, and 1 in a bilingual Latin/English edition. Only 7 re-reads this time, as there were more Advanced Review Copies and anthologies/short story collections that arrived during these 6 weeks or so that influenced my reading then:

May:

201. Carlos Ruiz Zafón, El Juego del Ángel (proof)

202. Milorad Pavić, Landscape Painted With Tea

203. Sarah Hall, Daughters of the North

204. José Hernández, Martín Fierro (re-read)

205. Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish (re-read)

206. James and Kathryn Morrow (eds.), The SFWA European Hall of Fame (anthology)

207. Scott Bakker, Neuropath (ARC)

208. Jannic Durand, Byzantine Art (re-read)

209. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (eds.), Steampunk (anthology)

210. Luís de Camões, Selected Sonnets (bilingual)

211. Luís de Camõoes, The Lusíads

212. George R.R. Martin, Dreamsongs: Volume II (collection)

213. Barth Anderson, The Magician and the Fool (ARC)

214. Amanda Michalopoulou, I’d Like (short stories)

215. Etgar Keret, The Girl on the Fridge (short stories)

216. Antonio Orlando Rodríguez, Chiquita

217. Farah Mendlesohn, Rhetorics of Fantasy

218. Gene Wolfe, An Evil Guest (ARC)

219. Gregory Frost, Lord Tophet (ARC)

220. Tobias Buckell, Sly Mongoose (ARC)

221. Ellen Datlow (ed.), The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy (anthology)

222. The Artists of OoP, Out of Picture 2 (anthology; graphic novel)

223. Howard Zinn, A People’s History of American Empire (ARC; graphic novel)

224. Peter David, Tigerheart

225. James Braziel, Birmingham, 35 Miles

226. Paul Kincaid, What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction

227. Jo Graham, Black Ships (ARC)

228. Jorge Luis Borges, Obra Poética (re-read)

229. Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, Seis problemas para don Isidro Parodi (re-read)

230. Kay Kenyon, Bright of the Sky

231. Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, Dos fantasías memorables/Un modelo para la muerte (re-read)

June:

232. Vergil, Aeneid, Books VII-XII (bilingual edition)

233. Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales (short stories)

234. Franz Kafka, The Trial

235. Zoran Živković, Twelve Collections and the Teashop (short stories)

236. Flann O’Brien, The Complete Novels (omnibus)

237. Goran Petrović, La Mano de la Buena Fortuna

238. Slavoj Žižek, The Parallax View

239. Kay Kenyon, A World Too Near (ARC)

240. John Rieder, Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction

241. D.M. Cornish, Lamplighter (ARC)

242. Alexander Livitsky (ed.), Worlds Apart: An Anthology of Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction (anthology)

243. Alan Campbell, Iron Angel

244. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass

245. Andrew Crumey, Music, in a Foreign Language

246. Andrzej Sapkowski, La espada del destino

247. Maurice Dantec, Cosmos Incorporated

248. Gene Wolfe, Castleview

249. Ekaterina Sedia, The Alchemy of Stone (ARC)

250. Luis Leante, Mira si yo te querré (re-read)

2008 Reads #151-200: March 27-April 29

This list has 43 books in English/English translation, 6 in Spanish, and 1 in Serbian translation.  16 of these books were re-reads and a few others were read in Advanced Reading Copy format.  13 female authors and/or editors here as well.

March 27-31

151.  Brian Evenson, The Wavering Knife (story collection)

152.  Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

153.  Michael Cisco, The Tyrant

154.  Ekaterina Sedia (ed.), Paper Cities:  An Anthology of Urban Fantasy (anthology)

155.  Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth (prose poem)

156.  Susan Palwick, Shelter

157.  Umberto Eco, Five Moral Pieces (non-fiction)

April 1-29

158.  Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts

159.  Ian McDonald, Brasyl

160.  Edward Whittemore, Quin’s Shanghai Circus

161.  Ursula Le Guin, Lavinia

162.  Lois Lowery, The Giver

163.  Thomas Wiloch, Screaming in Code (prose-poems)

164.  Ursula Le Guin, The Earthsea Trilogy (SFBC omnibus)

165.  Mitchell Sharmat, Gregory, the Terrible Eater (re-read)

166.  John Joseph Adams (ed.), Wastelands:  Stories of Life After Apocalypse (ARC edition; anthology)

167.  John Meaney, Bone Song (ARC edition)

168.  Nalo Hopkinson (ed.), Mojo:  Conjure Stories (anthology)

169.  G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who was Thursday (re-read)

170.  Jeffrey Ford, The Shadow Year (ARC edition)

171.  Cory Doctorow, Little Brother (ARC)

172.  Ben Bova (ed.), Nebula Awards Showcase 2008 (anthology)

173.  Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

174.  Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

175.  Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso:  Part One (re-read; poetry)

176.  Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso:  Part Two (re-read; poetry)

177.  Salvador Plascencia, The People of Paper (re-read)

178.  Stepan Chapman, The Troika (re-read)

179.  S.E. Hinton, Rumble Fish

180.  Robert Hitchen, The Great Conversation (literary criticism)

181.  Michael Cisco, The Traitor (re-read)

182.  Liliana Bodoc, Los días de la Sombra (Spanish)

183.  Michael Cisco, Secret Hours (re-read; story collection)

184.  Albert Camus, The Stranger (re-read)

185.  Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (re-read)

186.  James Thurber, The 13 Clocks (re-read)

187.  Elizabeth Hand, Generation Loss (re-read)

188.  Ambrose Bierce, Civil War Stories (story collection)

189.  Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories (re-read; story collection)

190.  Frank Herbert, Arakis:  peščana planeta (Serbian)

191.  Frank Herbert, Dune (re-read)

192.  Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber (story collection)

193.  Carlos Ruiz Zafón, La sombra del viento (re-read; Spanish)

194.  Italo Calvino, The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount

195.  Javier Cercas, La velocidad de la luz (Spanish)

196.  Julio Cortázar, Cuentos Completos II (story collection; Spanish)

197.  Isabel Allende, La suma de los días (non-fiction; Spanish)

198.  Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus

199.  Juan Rulfo, Pedro Párama y El llano en llamas (re-read; Spanish)

200.  Kevin Brockmeier, The Brief History of the Dead

2008 Reads #101-150: February 20-March 26

31 books in English, 19 in Spanish for this latest group.  24 of these were re-reads, while another 6 were Advance Review Copies, with another 5 being review copies of books now available for release.

February 20-29

101.  Umberto Eco and Carlo Maria Martini, ¿En qué creen los que no creen? (re-read)

102.   Octavia Butler, Parable of the Talents

103.   Jonathan Carroll, The Wooden Sea

104.  Anton Strout, Dead to Me (review copy)

105.  Ernesto Sábato, La resistencia (re-read)

106.  Ernesto Sábato, Antes del fin (re-read)

107.  Pamela Freeman, Blood Ties (ARC)

108.  Moira J. Moore, Heroes Adrift (review copy)

109.  Roger Zelazny, The Great Book of Amber

110.  Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged (American ARC)

111.  Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings (UK ARC)

112.  Samuel Delany, Dhalgren

113.  Fritz Leiber, Lankhmar:  Tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

114.  Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine (re-read)

115.  Venedikt Erofeev, Moscow to the End of the Line (re-read)

116.  Isamu Fukui, Truancy (review copy)

117.  Peadar Ó Guilín, The Inferior (review copy)

118.  Yuri Andrukhovych, Perverzion (re-read)

119.  Ernesto Sábato, El túnel (re-read)

120.  Felix Gilman, Thunderer (review copy)

121.  Roque Dalton, Las historias prohibidas del pulgarcito (re-read)

122.  David Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague (ARC)

March 1-26

123.  Michael Moorcock, Wizardry & Wild Romance:  A Study of Epic Fantasy (re-read)

124.  Tananarive Due, The Living Blood

125.  Jorge Luis Borges, Historia de la eternidad (re-read)

126.  Terry Brooks, Dark Wraith of Shannara (ARC; graphic novel)

127.  Jeff VanderMeer, Why Should I Cut Your Throat? (re-read)

128.  Adolfo Bioy Casares, Borges

129.  Gabriel García Márquez, El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (re-read)

130.  Jorge Luis Borges, El informe de Brodie (re-read)

131.  Adolfo Bioy Casares, La invención de Morel (re-read)

132.  Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory (graphic novel)

133.  Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, El Rey de La Habana (re-read)

134.  Alejo Carpentier, El reino de este mundo (re-read)

135.  Horacio Quiroga, Cuentos de amor de locura y de muerte (re-read)

136.  Carlos Fuentes, Inquieta compañía (re-read)

137.  Jorge Luis Borges, Elogio de la sombra (re-read)

138.  Jorge Luis Borges, El Martín Fierro (re-read)

139.  Jorge Luis Borges, Biblioteca personal (re-read)

140.  Carlos Fuentes, In esto creo (re-read)

141.  Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Rimas y Leyendas (re-read)

142.  Brian Francis Slattery, Spaceman Blues

143.  Alberto Fuguet, Sobredosis (re-read)

144.  Tom Corwin, Mr. Footster:  Traveling on a Whim (ARC)

145.  Boban Knežević, Black Blossom

146.  Steve Erickson, Arc d’X

147.  Jeanette Winterson, The Stone Gods

148.  David Petersen, Mouse Guard:  Fall 1152 (review copy; graphic novel)

149.  Jeff VanderMeer, The Situation (signed, limited-edition)

150.  Umberto Eco, Turning Back the Clock:  Hot Wars and Media Populism

2008 Reads #51-100: January 27-Feb. 19

This list contains 44 books in English, 6 in Spanish, fewer than has been my norm in recent years.  As always, I’ll mark Advance Review Copies (ARC) and re-reads (20 out of the 50 listed here).  When applicable, links are given to reviews posted on OF Blog of the Fallen.

January 27-31

51.  Han Shaogong, A History of Maqiao

52.  Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn:  The Final Empire (re-read)

53.   Jeffrey Thomas, Deadstock

54.  Patricia McKillip, Riddle-Master:  The Complete Trilogy

55.  Matthew Stover, Heroes Die (re-read)

56.  Karl Schroeder, Sun of Suns

57.  Steven Gould, Jumper

58.  Liliana Bodoc, Los días del Venado (re-read)

59.  Steven Gould, Jumper:  Griffin’s Story

60.  José Martí, Obra poética (re-read)

61.  Matthew Stover, Blade of Tyshalle (re-read)

62.  L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

February 1-19

63.  Crockett Johnson, Harold and the Purple Crayon (re-read)

64.  David Anthony Durham, Pride of Carthage

65.  D.M. Cornish, Foundling

66.  Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching (re-read)

67.  Martin H. Greenberg and Loren L. Coleman (eds.), Wizards, Inc.

68.  James Joyce, Ulysses (re-read)

69.  J.M. McDermott, Last Dragon (ARC)

70.  T.A. Pratt, Blood Engines

71.  Richard Dansky, Firefly Rain

72.  Cat Rambo and Jeff VanderMeer, The Surgeon’s Tale and Other Stories (re-read)

73.  Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (eds.), The New Weird

74.  Ursula Le Guin, The Beginning Place

75.  Mark Helprin, A City in Winter

76.  Michael Moorcock, Elric: The Stealer of Souls

77.  Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, Crónicas de Bustos Domecq

78.  Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

79.  Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

80.  Ursula Le Guin, Malafrena

81.  Ursula Le Guin, A Fisherman of the Inland Sea

82.  Octavia Butler, Kindred

83.  Melanie Tem and Steve Rasnic Tem, The Man on the Ceiling (ARC)

84.  Julia Alvarez, En el tiempo de las Mariposas

85.  Lucius Shepard, A Handbook of American Prayer

86.  Danilo Kiš, The Encyclopedia of the Dead (re-read)

87.  Danilo Kiš, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich (re-read)

88.  China Miéville, Perdido Street Station (re-read)

89.  China Miéville, The Scar (re-read)

90.  China Miéville, Iron Council (re-read)

91.  China Miéville, King Rat (re-read)

92.  John Crowley, Ægypt:  The Solitudes

93.  China Miéville, Un Lun Dun (re-read)

94.  China Miéville, Looking for Jake (re-read)

95.  Ann Aguirre, Grimspace

96.  Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (re-read)

97.  K.J. Bishop, The Etched City (re-read)

98.  Alejo Carpentier, Concierto barroco (re-read)

99.  Nathalie Mallet, The Princes of the Golden Cage

100. Julio Cortázar, Cuentos completos I

Ash Wednesday

The beginning of Lent and a time of reflection and correction for millions of practicing Catholics such as myself.  And here I am, awake at 3:15 AM, writing this piece.  It is dark, a major thunderstorm has passed, with deadly tornadoes in the counties near me, but only a slight bit of hail here.  Much to be thankful about, while still being sad at the news of devastation and loss of life elsewhere in my native Tennessee.  If I wanted, I probably could find a metaphor in all of this, but I won’t.

Just time to reflect and to consider what changes need to be made.  Although I didn’t get the teaching positions for which I interviewed last month, there are three new possibilities, so there is still some semblance of hope.  And as I begin my fast, there are some comforting religious symbols and hagiographies that I can consult when I just try to make it through to the end of the day.  Yes, there are a few things I’m abstaining from besides meat today and on the six Fridays of Lent and Good Friday.  Eating just a bit less, walking just a bit more (once my balky right knee decides to cooperate again).  Taking more time to create and to promote and less time to tear things down.  Shall be an interesting time to come.

Review of David Anthony Durham’s Pride of Carthage

History is a word fraught with ancient emotions and depths. From the ancient Greek ἱστορία, meaning roughly “narration of what is learned,” to the Latin historia, which has the extra connotation of “story” to go with the Greek meaning to the French histoire, the Spanish and Italian historia, and of course the English history, the word refers not just to the past, but also to what we’ve learned from the past, as well as the narrative tales we transmit from generation to generation in order to impress upon our youth the important “lessons” that past events can teach us.

It was for the storytelling aspects, the ability to learn from prior events and to piece together meanings and stories from people from other places and times, that led me to get my BA and MA in European cultural/religious history a little over 10 years ago. Although I currently am not working in that field, I still value and cherish it and for the most part, I have looked at “historical novels” with a skeptical eye. Common questions I have asked myself when reading historical novels have been “Will the author be more “true” to the mechanisms of change or will s/he try to be “true” to the “spirit” of the events? Will the “story” aspect of history be on display here, or will it devolve more into a hodge-podge of mostly-unexplored events and poorly-developed characters, with just a surface layer of “historicity” to top it off?”

These were some of the questions that I had when I began reading David Anthony Durham’s Pride of Carthage. Now I had earlier read his excellent fantasy, Acacia: The War with the Mein, as well as two smaller-scope historical works, Gabriel’s Story and Walk Through Darkness (I plan on re-reading the latter two before reviewing them here in the coming months), so I was familiar with Durham’s basic writing style and his approach towards characterization, but still the question still lingered about how he would approach the larger-than-life persona of the Carthinginian general Hannibal during his 218-203 BCE campaigns against the Romans during the Second Punic War. Would Hannibal be portrayed more as an übermensch, dominating without much effort or struggle, or would he be set up more as a tragic hero, whose own virtues end up being the cause of his downfall at Zama at the hands of Scipio Africanus?

What I found while reading this novel is that Hannibal is neither all of A nor all of B, but a bit of both with some surprising (but fitting) elements tossed in. Eschewing a more traditional approach of concentrating mostly on the general himself, Durham devotes quite a bit of time to his family, from his brothers Hasdrubal, Hanno, and Mago, to his father, Hamilcar, and in some of the more poignant scenes that frame the novel, his son, also named Hamilcar. In many ways, this is a tale about a father who has done many great and terrible things, at a horrendous cost to his home and family in the end.

Below is an excerpt from near the beginning of the novel that reveals quite a bit about how Hannibal came to be the leader that he was. His father has taken the then-eight year-old Hannibal to see a prisoner, one who had tried to betray Carthage:

“This man betrayed Carthage, “Hamilcar said, his voice a dry rasp that he could not shake, though he cleared his throat several times. “Do you understand that? This man conspired to open the gates of our city to the mercenaries. He did it for money, for power, out of a sheer hatred that he hid behind the mask of a countryman. He almost succeeded. had this man the power, he would yank you up by the ankles and bash your skull against the stones beneath us. He would nail me to a cross and leave me to die slowly. He’d see me a rotting, maggot-filled corpse, and he would laugh at the sight. He would slit your brother’s necks and rape your mother and have her sold into slavery. He would live in our house and eat our food and rule over our servants. This is the man before you. Do you know his name?”

Hannibal shook his head, his eyes pinned to the stones and not moving even as he answered.

“His name is Tamar. Some call him the Blessed, others the Foul. Some call him friend. Some father. Some lover. Do you understand? He has other names also: Alexander. Cyrus. Achilles. Khufu. Yahweh or Ares or Osiris. He is Sumerian, Persian, Spartan. He is the thief in the street, the councillor who sits beside you, the man who covets your wife. You choose his name, for he has many, as many names as there are men born to women. His name is Rome. His name is mankind. This is the world we live in, and you’ll find it full of men like this.”

Hamilcar released the man’s head and placed his hands on his son’s shoulders. He pulled him close and let the boy rest his forehead against his cheek. Hannibal did this willingly, for he did not want to look at the man about whom they spoke. “Son,” he said, “there was a noose around our neck and to cut it I had to kill many men most horribly. You are a child, but the world you were born into is no kind place. This is why I teach you now that creation is full of wolves aligned against us. To live in it without falling into madness, you must make of yourself more than a single man. You love with all your heart as a father and son and husband. You wrap your arms around your mother and know the goodness of women. You find beauty in the world and cherish it. But never waver from strength. Never run from battle. When the time comes to act, do so, with iron in your hand and your loins and your heart. Unreservedly love those who love you, and protect them without remorse. Will you always do that?”

Against his father’s chest, the boy nodded.

“Then I am proud to call you my firstborn son,” Hamilcar said. He pulled away and stood up straight and yanked a dagger from the sheath on his ankle and pressed the handle into his son’s hand. “Now kill this man.”

Hannibal stared at the blade in his small hand, a dagger nearly as large as the toy swords he practiced with. He closed his fingers around the handle slowly, felt the worn leather, the rough weave of it and the solidity of the iron beneath it. He raised his eyes and moved toward the man and did as his fathered ordered. He did not lift the man’s head, but he slipped the blade under his chin and cut a ragged, sloppy line that yanked free of his flesh just under the ear. He fell against the dead man’s body for a moment. Though he sprang back, the touch still stained his nightclothes with the man’s newly flowing blood. He was just eight years old that night. Of course he had not forgotten that moment. Nor would he. It would be with him on his deathbed, if the moment of his passing allowed for reflection. (pp. 88-90)

It is in this scene, one-sixth into the novel, that foreshadows so much of what transpires later. Hannibal the character becomes a well-rounded individual who flashes both the iron of necessary action and the warmth of a caring and generous heart. He inspires his men through his valor and bravery, even though he sees only out of one eye after one battle. While many of his characteristics seem to indicate that this will be the tragic hero who falls down to Death at the end, Durham chooses not to take that path. Although Hannibal remains at the center of the tale, Durham devotes much time to developing his secondary characters, especially the conflicted and complex relationship between Imco Vaca and Aradna, whose periodic encounters serve to underscore the various tensions that are on display throughout the course of this novel.

When I evaluate a historical novel, I first want to see if the invented characters blend in well with the historical main characters. In Pride of Carthage, they do for the most part. Then I want to examine the writing and see if it feels “alive,” that it is more than just a dry retelling of the past without anything really contributed in the way of an actual story. As indicated from the lengthy excerpt above, I believe that Durham’s writing suits the story very well, with the humanness of the characters on full display. Some readers might complain that the narrative approach is a bit “too distant” for them. Perhaps they’d rather have more dialogue or intense action than the panoptic third-person PoVs that Durham employs to tell his story. For me, the narrative voice works here because with the scope of the action and the amount of time that Hannibal’s story has to cover (the first 43 years of his life), I cannot think of a more appropriate narrative voice that would have managed to accomplish as much within a single 568 page novel.

However, there are a few cases in which a bit more time devoted to dialogue could have made the ending even stronger. In particular, the political maneuvering taking place both in Rome and Carthage perhaps could have been shown in more detail. It would have been nice if Scipio Africanus could have had more “talk time” in the buildup to the Battle of Zama. Maybe even more could have been said about the Battles of Lake Trasimene and Cannae. And let us not forget the rather compressed timeline, in which Hannibal’s son still appears as a child at the end rather than the young adult he would have been after being separated from his father for 15 years. But these are quibbles, for the most part. No historical novel can be completely “true” to the recorded events without encountering places where the storyline needs are going to clash with some historical gaps or contradictions. So while the compressed timeline might be annoying for those history buffs who want super-accurate renderings of battles and events, for those who want a good tale set in a particular historical mileu, Pride of Carthage is an enjoyable and rewarding novel. It certainly was one of the better historical novels that I have read in the past ten years and I would highly recommend it to others who enjoy reading historical novels or for those who like intriguing and dynamic characters.

Publication Date: January 18, 2005 (US), Hardcover; January 3, 2006 (US), Tradeback.

Publisher: Doubleday

50 Book Challenge Met: January 1-January 26, 2008

With my underemployment, I’ve had a bit more time than usual to read, so combine that with being cursed with a very rapid read/comprehension rate and you have 50 books (and counting) read in 26 days. Of these, 40 were in English, 9 in Spanish, 1 in Serbian. 30 of the books were read for the first time, 20 had been read sometime in the past.

1. Nick Mamatas, Under My Roof

2. Michael Cisco, The San Veneficio Canon

3. Sylvia Kelso, Amberlight

4. Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, The Shadow Speaker

5. Ekaterina Sedia, The Secret History of Moscow

6. Christopher Barzak, One for Sorrow

7. José Saramago, Las intermitencias de la muerte (re-read from 2006, 2007)

8. Shaun Tan, The Arrival (re-read from 2007)

9. José Saramago, La balsa de piedra

10. Roberto Arlt, Trescientos Millones (re-read from 2007)

11. Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull (re-read from 2007)

12. Richard Bach, Galeb Džonatan Livingston (Serbian; re-read from 2007)

13. Antonio Machado, Antologia poética (re-read from 2007)

14. George R.R. Martin (ed.), Wild Cards: Inside Straight

15. Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy (re-read from 1996)

16. Harvey Pekar, Gary Dumm, and Paul Buhle (eds.), Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History

17. Elizabeth Bear, Blood and Iron

18. Elizabeth Bear, Whiskey and Water

19. Paul Kearney, The Mark of Ran

20. Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself

21. Daniel Abraham, A Shadow in Summer

22. Ursula Le Guin, Worlds of Exile and Illusion

23. Jeffrey Ford, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque

24. Edward Carey, Observatory Mansions

25. Richard Morgan, Market Forces

26. Gustave Flaubert, The Temptation of Saint Anthony

27. China Miéville, The Tain (re-read from 2003, 2004, 2005)

28. Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

29. Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero

30. T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Stories (re-read from 2001)

31. Jack Kerouac, On the Road (re-read from 1997)

32. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (eds.), Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy

33. David Keck, In the Eye of Heaven (re-read from 2007)

34. David Keck, In a Time of Treason (ARC)

35. Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

36. John Crowley, Little, Big (re-read from 2004)

37. J.G. Ballard, The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard (re-read from 2004)

38. Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys

39. Eliseo Alberto, Caracol Beach (re-read from 2006)

40. Sergio Ramírez, Margarita, está linda la mar (re-read from 2006)

41. Manuel Vicent, La novia de Matisse

42. Doris Lessing, The Grass is Singing

43. Jorge Luis Borges, La memoria de Shakespeare (re-read from 2007)

44. Laura Esquivel, Como agua para chocolate

45. Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (re-read many times since my childhood)

46. Geoff Ryman, Air

47. Ursula Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven (re-read from 2007)

48. Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz (re-read from 2006)

49. Rhys Hughes, A New Universal History of Infamy (re-read from 2004)

50. Martin Millar, The Good Fairies of New York

Before any gawk or anything, I remember a summer or two during my college days, when all of my good friends were off, hundreds of miles away and I had no car to go hang out with them. Wasn’t working the summer of 1995, outside of doing rehab on my broken right radial head (elbow region), so I had the choice of network TV (no cable back then) or reading for my evening hours’ entertainment. I chose reading and I believe I finished somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 books in 3 months that summer. So yeah, I’m a fast reader, deal with it.

A few changes

First off, I didn’t get the position I interviewed for recently, but I’m not too upset or down about that.  In part, it’s due to making a few conscious changes in my daily routine that’s helping quite a bit.

I began by deciding to just do something each day.  Nothing really major, but at least something.  From cleaning out this or removing that for disposal,  it’s been rewarding in the sense that I’ve noticed that things are different.  Soon enough, I’ll reorganize most everything, maybe even categorize my books (all 1400+ of them).  Recycling the soda cans I consume is another project I’ve started doing, even though I’ve begun lowering my consumption rate quite a bit in favor of cold water.

Exercise has done wonders as well for my mood.  After my right knee healed enough from the slight microtear in the meniscus earlier this month, I began walking on the family treadmill.  I walk at a fairly slow rate (so I can hold a book and read at the same time - multitasking, FTW!) for about 45 minutes at a time, burning around 200 calories each time, walking twice a day most days.  I have small weights (20 lbs. dumbbells) as well and I plan on shortly doing a series of exercises with them to rebuild my pectorals and biceps.  I’m not wanting to bulk up, so it’s high reps in goal, as I’d love to go from a Size 36 back again to a 34 and maybe even a 32 (although that might be too much, considering my broad skeletal structure).

I’m also reading even more than usual, about to finish my 26th book of the year and my ultimate 2008 goals are to be around 200 lbs. (a 45 lb. loss), to have read/re-read challenging books that will cause me to question things more, to be more trusting and to have faith that among the bad there’s good, and to continue my language acquisition of Serbian, Spanish, and (if things work out and I were to work there) possibly Korean.  But first I’ll have to find a stop-gap job doing something, and if it’s going to be a drone-labor task, I first need to get a routine established to keep my mind active so I don’t get frustrated and fall back into bad habits.

There might be occasional updates here on all this progression (if any occurs, that is) in the coming weeks and months.  With any luck, I’ll make it hard to top myself in 2009.

Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History

A few months ago, I received a package of Advance Review Copies from Farrar, Straus and Giroux’s graphic novel imprint, Hill and Wang.  One of the books included was Students for a Democratic Society:  A Graphic History, which was mostly written, edited, and drawn by Harvey Pekar, Gary Dumm, and Paul Buhle.  In this 214 page novel, these three have set out to show via a combination of printed word and illustrations the wide-ranging impact that the radical 1960s Students for a Democratic Society had on issues such as the antiwar movement, women’s lib, the democratization of campus life, and the civil rights struggle.

The book is split into many sections.  In these, the editors decided to begin with an overall history (comprising the first quarter of the book) of the SDS movement, from its genesis in 1960 to its disintegration into factional infighting in 1969.  The writers/illustrators don’t shy away from several touchy topics, including the use of violence by various members and splinter groups such as the Weathermen (named after a line from Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”).  But this introduction serves as a backdrop for the very passionate and often tragic lives of SDS members.

It is in the chapters following the initial overview that one hears the stories of various SDS members, what they had to overcome in their personal lives, the prejudices of friends and loved ones, and in a few cases, the tragic deaths of lovers.  While one may not sympathize with their political views, their stories, with some very well-done artwork to emphasize the action unfolding, carry a ring of authenticity that often is lacking in textbook accounts of the 1960s in the United States.

As a former history grad student and teacher of American and World History, at first I was skeptical that the book could achieve its overall aims, despite evidence from books such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus that illustrated the possibilities that a marriage of personal (and world) historical events and the graphic novel form could have in moving the hearts and souls of the readers.  For the most part, Students for a Democratic Society:  A Graphic History achieves its aims.  It does an excellent job of showcasing the very interesting and conflicted lives of its members.  However, one should not read this book expecting an unbiased account.  The editors did not write this with the aim of doing so and the book is very clear in its endorsement of what the SDS accomplished.  But with that caveat in mind, I did find this to be well-written and informative, giving the reader often-overlooked facets of the radical 1960s to consider.

For those who are curious about the 1960s in America and who want to learn more about the Students for a Democratic Society, I recommend this book as being a stepping stone to reading even more detailed and rich historical works on this very important era of American History.

Publication Date:  January 8, 2007 (US), Hardcover.

Publisher:  Hill and Wang (Farrar, Straus and Giroux imprint)

A bit of hope

I was just cleared to apply for a part-time ESL teaching position in a neighboring city.  Ought to know more in the next couple of days, but since there are no others who’ve applied that are certified in ESL, I might have something to do.  Oh, and it would be an afternoon position, so I could sleep late!

More on this if anything develops, obviously.