Books for May, 2002

[pegkerr]

My list is short this month. I had a period of about a week there where I couldn't figure out what I wanted to read.

Fire in Their Eyes: Wild Fires and the People Who Fight Them by Karen Magnuson Beil - Research for the story I've put aside

The Dubious Hills by Pamela Dean (Re-read)

Welcome to My Planet, Where English is Sometimes Spoken by Shannon Olson. A semi-autobiographical work, I understand, and a bit peculiar to read because the author went to the same college I went to and went through the same graduate school program I went to--it was like reading about someone who had taken my life and lived it totally differently.

Wizard's Hall by Jane Yolen

Wind From a Foreign Sky by Katya Reiman

A Tremor in the Bitter Earth by Katya Reiman - I have mixed feelings about these two. There were things in the first that irritated me, but enough in it was interesting enough that I picked up the second. That was too violent for my tastes (I did NOT like what she did to the kids in that book). The whole thing made me think again about the talk Stan (Kim Stanley Robinson) gave us at Clarion about writing violence. It was his assertion that writers need to use violence more sparingly--we tend to use it too unthinkingly, without considering the real consequences (or how rarely it actually happens). Most writers, too, he suggested, just were copying TV violence when they got into a corner, without thinking it through--an easy out. Will I read her next? Um . . . not sure. Probably. I do like to support local writers. And as I said, there are some things she's doing that I like. Will be interesting to see how she develops.

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Knight's Castle by Edward Eager

As I mentioned, I'm reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman now. That'll be on next month's list.

I've gotten some great suggestions for what to do tonight on my message below. Keep those suggestions coming!

Comments

[mommybird.livejournal.com]

I love Edward Eager's books! Knight's Castle is undoubtedly my favorite; it's set here in Baltimore, and I think of it every time I see that statue of George Peabody in Mt. Vernon Square. *g*

[cliosfolly.livejournal.com]

Eager's books are fun; not as much depth as some of Nesbit's stories which I've read (and to which the children in Eager's stories are constantly referring), but very enjoyable. I went from reading those to L. M. Boston's The Children of Green Knowe and the following books; Children is wonderful, if you've never read it: a boy goes to spend the winter holiday with his great-grandmother in their family's old old old house where she tells him stories of the children in his family who'd previously lived in the house centuries ago; and then there's some boundaries-blurring spoiler stuff that happens. Very atmospheric and fun with lots of hidden cubbyholes and secret places. And Christmas. The atmosphere in Children is similar in tone, I think, to that of The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, even though that's written for a slightly older audience. Puzzling, mysterious, somewhat dangerous, with creepy things in the bushes. Children and The Treasures of Green Knowe and The Stones of Green Knowe are the best, I think.

On the topic of firefighting books, I ran into a book last week that might be of interest to you, since you're still reading on the topic (and assuming you haven't read this particular one already): Jumping Fire: A Smoke-Jumper's Memoir of Fighting Wildfire by Murry Taylor. I don't really know anything about it, though, other than I happened to run across it in the campus remaindered book sale last week.

[ex-mahoney365.livejournal.com]

>>>writers need to use violence more sparingly--we tend to use it too unthinkingly, without considering the real
consequences (or how rarely it actually happens). Most writers, too, he suggested, just were copying TV violence when they got into a
corner, without thinking it through--an easy out.<<<

Totally agree. Especially the part about not thinking it through - it's annoying enough when violence and brutality crop up like spring daisies in a story, but then consequences are completely ignored, which, argh.

On the other hand, I think a lot of readers expect violence, and expect it to be without consequences, because they have an unrealistic view of violence (i.e. Hollywood violence &, in internet communities, fanfic violence).

[laurel]

Welcome to My Planet was really strange for me to read, too.

Sure, I'm single and thirty and live in Minnesota and shop too much at Target, I knew I'd have some things in common with the heroine. But her parents are named Edward and Florence Olson (my Mom's parents are Edwin and Florence Olson). She grew up in Chaska, I grew up in Mound (but went to school in Mayer, awfully darn close to Chaska and I've been to Chaska many times). She went to St. Olaf, I went to a different Lutheran liberal arts college (Augustana in Sioux Falls).

Fortunately, there are plenty of other things I don't have in common with the character or the author, but still a bit eerie to read. I'm sure there were other similarities, too, but it's been a while since I read it.