American Gods

Title: American Gods

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publication date: 2001

Book's setting: Modern America

Random facts: I've lovingly dubbed this book Percy Jackson: With Sex. Anyway.

Plot summary: Shadow is nearing the end of this three year sentence in prison. He is looking forward to getting back to his wife and normal life. When he gets the news that his wife died in a car accident days before his release, he no longer knows what to live for. On the plane back home Shadow meets the mysterious Wednesday who knows everything about him and employs him on the spot. Wednesday is a god, one of many still trying to lay claim in The New World. Some are succeeding better than others... and Wednesday is ready to fight a war for his survival.

Favorite aspects: The buffalo man! I'd be lying if I said that all the buffalo man didn't make me think of Living With the Land in Epcot. I loved all the weird bits in "hell" and like, the backlot of America. Neil Gaiman is really good with setting in his books. It's always so vivid and beautiful and spooky. Mostly spooky. American Gods was like a dream, bordering upon nightmare. Its strange structure and meandering plot and chapter-long asides gave it a dreamlike quality. It got really scary in parts too, which I love. Neil Gaiman is actually capable of scaring me, which is an epic feat! A big part of the book is how some places are just sacred. He did a great job making them feel sacred.

Least favorite aspects: I keenly felt the lack of the Greek gods. With the neoclassical movement in the 18oo's in the United States, I'd think that the gods would have a real sort of presence. Their images are everywhere in DC and New York City and Boston... I like how he used a lot of gods people often forget (the point, really) like Eoster and Wisakedjak and Bast and a Kobold, but the Greek and Roman deities were definitely very missing.

Other works it reminded me of: Percy Jackson by Rick Riodan (but with sex); Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

Sadie's merciless break-down: I've always wondered what about America appeals to Europeans. Neil Gaiman is British, but he is obsessed with America. He moved to America, he wrote a 600 page novel all about how fantastic and weird America is. (He also married Amanda Palmer, one of America's finest achievements.) I think that after reading American Gods I have a better understanding of what's so magical about the United States.
The USA has a distinct sort of fantasy canon and mythology. We forget that things like gas stations and convenience stores and barbecue are exclusive to our culture, and then Gaiman goes and makes them magical and strange. Everything about American Gods was otherworldly and strange, especially the common place things.
It's less like a novel and more like a project. Like a multi-media presentation, only without the multiple medias. In a way I think that Neil took on too much with American Gods, but not really because it was more exciting stuffed to the gills with themes and ideas and strange characters and motifs.
I read American Gods incredibly slowly, ten or fifteen pages at a time. I wanted to pay attention- I didn't want to skim, so I only read it when I was feeling really dedicated. I'm glad I just gave in and bought it. (Only 6.99 you guys!!)
So now I've managed to say a lot of words without really getting to my point. Here's my point: ~*~AMURICAH~*~

Recommendation rate: It didn't win the Hugo AND the freaking Nebula for nothing.

Lost at Sea

(In this review I'm going to quote the novel. In the quotes there is profanity. I don't know who reads this blog, but if that bothers you... well, that why I'm warning you.)

Title: Lost at Sea

Author: Bryan Lee O'Malley

Publication date: 2003

Book's setting: Modern California. (Possibly Oregon.)

Random facts: I read Lost at Sea in Target because it was quiet and I was turned out of the house due to kitchen renovations.

Plot summary: "Maybe all these desperate clashing feelings I'm feeling are just random brain activity. Maybe I'm just delusional. But there are things that I miss, and things that I feel like I should be seeing and feeling every time I turn around, and I just keep turning and turning and turning, and there's nothing." Raleigh is stuck in a car, on a road trip from California to Vancouver (home) with three kids she never really got to know from high school. She was in California visiting her dad. Except she wasn't- she was there visiting him. Or maybe she was there looking for her soul- the one that her mom sold for success, the one that's locked in a cat somewhere.
It's sort of a coming of age story, but it's also a story about fear and how to break free.

Favorite aspects: I have never (do I need to say that again? NEVER.) read a book that more accurately summed up what it's like to be us. Girls in the highschool/college years in the 21st century. Our worries and emotions and problems and circular thinking and failed romances. One of the most brilliant scenes is when Stephanie wishes she was tall, and Raleigh says she hates being tall and Stephanie says, "Anyway, of course you hate being tall. That's how it works." Also I love how Raleigh's "gifted class" bubble was burst in highschool. Sometimes I think that happens to homeschoolers in college. Basically Bryan Lee O'Malley has an incredibly grasp on reality. Other than maybe Ghost World, it was the most realistic thing I've ever read.

Least favorite aspects: I'd like to know if she ever read the letter. (Also, are her sisters really cats?)

Other works it reminded me of: Ghost World by Daniel Clowes; Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

Sadie's merciless breakdown: It's been a long, long time since I read something that struck me personally like this did. Atonement and Good Omens and Siste Viator were magnificent and cut me to the core, so to speak... but Lost at Sea was for me. I guess it's for every lost, lonely girl, but it does not mean it was not also for me.
I guess I'll just leave this rather offensive but incredible quote. It's incredible because everyone I know had made some version of this speech to me, and I've done it to others too.
"I'm an anti-social monster. I'm suck a fuckup. I'm- I'm a mediocre fuckup, even. I'm not even good at fucking up! He might not love me? That's cause for a fucking breakdown?! What is this? I'm stupid! I feel stupid! I'm horrible! I'm dead, I think I'm dead. Seriously."

Recommendation rate: If you're an old guy or if you're 12 or something then you might not like it or get it. But if you're a girl and you've ever felt a feeling you should read it.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Title: The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Author: Susanne Clarke

Publication date: 2006

Book's setting: Victorian

Random facts: Accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Charles Vess.

Plot summary: A collection of eight short stories. One of them is set in the world of her novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, one of them is actually set in Gaiman's Stardust universe, and all of them are ridiculous and incredibly fantasies, filled with ridiculous and incredibly Victorian ladies.

Favorite aspects: Clarke has an incredibly pure type of magic in her stories. It's no-nonsense, yet bizarre and doesn't feel the need to follow any rules. It truly is faerie magic. Also she has the ability to keep up a really stuffy, old-fashioned style without the reader getting tired of it. Each one of her stories was written in a slightly different style, which was also very impressive.
I really loved all her, I don't know, not-stereotypically-annoyingly-strong-female characters who were awesome, confidant ladies never the less. Does that make sense? Eh.

Least favorite aspects: I... don't have anything... to say here...

Other works it reminded me of: Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman; Unexpected Magic by Diana Wynne Jones.

Sadie's merciless break-down: Quite possibly, this was the most busy month of my life- and it's still not over. The copy of The Ladies of Grace Adieu we have from the library is beautiful... but it's also a massive hardcover. It doesn't fit in my pocketbook, and therefore I have been reading it in ten-page bursts before bed. Now that things have seemed to (kind of) calm down, hopefully I can get rolling with the reading again. But whatever- I'm not here to make excuses for my lapse from reading.
Fantasy and I go way back. The Ladies of Grace Adieu had a really classic, ancient, Tam-Lin sort of incredibly British magic that I love. I don't think that there is enough of that sort of magic in fantasies. It doesn't follow rules, it's mystical, almost religious in a way. Pagan, I guess. Sometimes I think modern fantasy tries too hard to be plausible and logical. Leave "plausible" to sci-fi. Fantasy should just be allowed to be outrageous.

Recommendation rate: If you enjoyed her novel than these are totally worth reading.

The Tombs of Atuan

Title: The Tombs of Atuan

Author: Ursula K LeGuin

Publication date: 1970

Book's setting: Fantasy world of Earthsea

Random facts: Second book in a series. The fourth in the series won the Nebula Award, this one won a Newbery.

Plot summary: Tenar was born the day the First Priestess of The Nameless Ones died. That means she is the priestess, reborn. Tenar is taken from her home and raised to fullfill her place as the Eaten One, Arha, First Priestess of the Tombs. The Tombs of Atuan follows the story of her childhood and training as Arha. But the tradition of the temple and the worship of The Nameless Ones is disrupted when Arha find a strange thief in her Tombs. She pities him and lets him live. After more encounters she and becomes fascinated in him, and he plants the seeds of doubt in her as to the order and truth behind her name and behind her gods.

Favorite aspects: The Tombs of Atuan was a really short book, for a fantasy at least. Maybe short is the wrong word. It was small. Once again small is the wrong world... Maybe I mean that it was tight. There was one main character who drove the entire story. The entire book was from Tenar's point of view and focuses on her life as the First Priestess. I think because LeGuin focused in on one small part of Earthsea's civilization, that allowed her time to be as specific and detail-oriented as she pleased. I was also fond of how visual it was. I had a very hard time putting it down, not exactly because it was exciting, but because it was beautiful. The world she created was beautiful.

Least favorite aspects: I felt a bit left in the cold regarding The Nameless Ones. I wasn't sure if LeGuin was trying to say that they weren't gods worth worshiping... or if they were actually false. Equally, I wasn't quite sure if we were supposed to believe that Tenar was really The Eaten One. I don't think she was, but then I'd think that automatically discredits The Nameless Ones. It was incredibly religious... and I'd have liken a bit more closure with the gods of Atuan.

Other works it reminded me of: Wolf Star Rise by Tanith Lee; Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.

Sadie's merciless break-down: It is a scientifically proven fact that if I am not reading some sort of fantasy I shrivel up and die. My beloved sister things most fantasy is dorky. (She is very conservative when it comes to fandom.) She generally dislikes anything that focuses on "world building." (Unless it has really hot men of course.) The Earthsea series was a favorite of my mom's growing up so I obviously felt compelled to read them. I read the first last November, The Tombs of Atuan is the second.
But back to world building. The Tombs of Atuan isn't even 200 pages long, but LeGuin manages to create one of the most visually compelling and realistic fantasy worlds I've ever read. It's always interesting when a fantasy world in very ethnic or foreign. For obvious reasons English fantasy often takes place in very European surroundings with very traditional Norse or Gaelic powers. The religion and setting in The Tombs of Atuan was deliciously foreign, and was what drove the entire book forward.
Lots of fantasy authors try so hard to communicate their entire universe to the reader that the details get lost. LeGuin focused on the details, and somehow they were powerful enough the the entire universe fell into place.

Recommendation rate: If you like fantasy then I'd put it on my list.

Little Dorrit

Title: Little Dorrit

Author: Charles Dickens

Publication date: 1857

Book's setting: 1830ish

Random facts: I read this book because of Arthur Darvill, Matthew McFayden, and Russel Tovey. I also read it because I am crazy.

Plot summary: The title character is Amy Dorrit, a girl who was born and raised in debtors prison. Before she was even born her father lost his fortune and he has spent the last 23 years there. Amy looks after her father in prison, while her older siblings, who never quite adjusted to being poor, try (and often fail) at making a living for the family. Arthur Clennam spent his entire grown life overseas, and returns home after his father's death with a message for his mother. "Never Forget." Arthur becomes suspicious that his family is somehow responsible for the misfortune that befell the Dorrit family over twenty years ago and sets out to try and save them. In typical Dickens fashion a host of characters and subplots are entangled around Arthur and Amy's story, including the French fiend Rigaud, the mysterious Ms Wade, innocent Pet and her slacker husband Gowan, and The Man of the Age. Mr. Merdle.

Favorite aspects: Why do I always like the characters you are not supposed to like? I liked Tip and Fanny and Pet and Edmund and Gowan best. Am I all there in the head? That's like reading Pride and Prejudice and liking Wickham and Caroline best. Ach! Am I a cowardly aristocrat at heart? Maybe, maybe. This was one of my favorite passages in the book, regarding Tip and Fanny. "He would have found it amply in that gallant brother and that dainty sister, so steeped in mean experiences, and so loftily conscious of the family name; so ready to beg or borrow from the poorest, to eat of anybody's bread, spend anybody's money, drink from anybody's cup and break if afterwards." Yeah, I love these people. The worst part of the whole book was that Fanny and Tip didn't get to be RICH FOREVER.

Least favorite aspects: Saying it was "too Dickens" is not an insult because it IS by Dickens. It's not his fault that his lengthy asides bore me or that his inability to be generous to rich people saddens me. I enjoy Dickens despite of his Dickensness, not because of it. But what were a few specific things I didn't like about Little Dorrit? Well, Amy had no flaws. Dickens has a habit of creating perfect poor angels who are perfect and mouse-like and whimper a lot on the moral high-ground. I'd rather hang with Mrs. Merdle to be quite honest. Also the ending was UNNECESSARILY COMPLICATED. Dickens, darling, it's not completely unheard of to bother explaining to your readers what is going on.

Other works it reminded me of: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell; The Deans Watch by Elizabeth Goudge.

Sadie's merciless break-down: Moby-Dick and The Odyssey are among my favorite books. It's not that I dislike long books. It's just... Dickens. I've spent years making it abundantly clear that I hate Dickens. I'm still not exactly a fan, even after dedicating two weeks and a thousand pages to him. I guess I read Little Dorrit as a challenge to myself. I know I can read anything in the world if I want to. But can I also read anything in the world if I don't want to? Little Dorrit was an easy way to find out. I'd seen the eight hour BBC One production starring the aforementioned hotties, so I already was familiar with the plot and characters. How hard could it possibly be? (Hard. I'd tried this two years ago with Bleak House. Gillian Anderson! Carey Mulligan! I could DO IT! Fifty-something pages an I gave up...)
For me reading is very visual. When you read Dickens it's hard to be visualize everything because he gets very sidetracked with politics and money. Little Dorrit was funny, in an old fashioned way. And it had great characters, when you stripped down the terrifying amount of narration they were wrapped in. I'm not really sure why I read it or whether or not I technically enjoyed it...
But I finished it! This is a BIG DEAL! I finished something by Dickens longer than Oliver Twist! And you know what? I hate to say it, but I had a hell of a lot of fun.

Recommendation rate: Only if you are very brave, or for some weird reason, actually enjoy Dickens.