Watchmen by Alan Moore

I'd been meaning to read this graphic novel for years, but I wasn't smart enough to borrow it while it was in easy reach. Now that the movie is in the making though, I decided to stop stalling. Luckily the Baltimore County Library system has very good inter-branch loan service. (I'd never thought of libraries as a place to get graphic novels, but it turns out that half the books I'm checking out these days are comics)

Overview
In a world where masked vigilantes and avengers are fairly common, but neither super nor heroes, what happens when a true superhuman appears? That's the basic premise of the novel, following the careers of masked crusaders and the creation of a superhuman semi-deity whose very existence threatens to throw the world into chaos. There's also a lot of psychological analysis, because normal people who are willing to dress up in costumes and wander around getting into fights have got to be interesting psych cases of some kind. You spend half the novel trying to figure out what the heck has been going on for the past 50 years because it starts mid-story and offers bits and pieces as it goes along. And don't let the term 'graphic novel' lure you into thinking this is a quick read. The comic is extremely text-intensive, and there's full-text sections sandwiched in every now and then. There's good reason why it's the only graphic novel to appear on one of Time Magazine's lists of "the 100 best English-language novels".
(well, good reason for it to be credibly considered a novel and a work of literature, but I can't really agree with Time that it deserves to be considered in the top 100)

Recommended for: Comic book and superhero fans, or anyone impatient for the movie.

Parental Worries: Sex and violence, used in many unusually disturbing ways.

Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Low)
My overriding association with the term 'watchmen' will always be the Discworld group, so I was assuming that the title Watchmen referred to the law and order, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes type of thing. Then I watched the movie trailer, and a couple of scenes had gears and other assorted machinery floating around. So I thought 'wait, maybe it's watch men, as in timekeeping'. In a fairly masterful sweep though, the story actually brings in almost every possible meaning of the word: the enforcers, the watchers, the watchmaker, and even the Watchmaker, in the origins-of-the-universe sense.

If you haven't noticed by now, I tend to favor happy endings, or at least endings where the heroes triumph and the world is saved, even if there's tragedy involved as well. But this ending is really weird: the heroes lose, the villian wins, and the world is . . .well, saved, but only for a given value of saved. This isn't as much of a spoiler as it sounds, 'cause it's sometimes hard to tell who's a villian and who's a hero.

Overall, I liked Watchmen, but nowhere near as much as I thought I would. It's one of those morally ambiguous, "we can't really change things because humans are just a rotten bunch" type of stories, but although I can recognize both good storytelling and a decent study in abnormal psychology, that doesn't mean I have to buy the worldview.

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

I've got to admit, I still harbor a slight resentment against this series because so many people have compared it to Lord of the Rings, even though I stand by my statement that they're completely different animals. My resentment is only heightened by the fact that I couldn't help but immensely enjoy and admire this second installment of the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Overview
The Game of Thrones has come to and end, and now the land is in the midst of an all-out war. Four different kings struggle for dominance when the book opens, we pick up another as we go along, and that doesn't even include the exiled princess/queen who's roaming the far corners of the earth but eventually plans to make a comeback. There's two different ways I could summarize the plot: outline the different warring factions or trace the movements of the Stark family, which by this point is spread to all corners of the land. The Starks are the more interesting, charismatic group--but their comings and goings are also more convoluted, so it'd be simpler to stick with the kings.

First we have Prince Joffrey, who's the apparently legitimate heir, being the son of Queen Cersei. He's not only currently sitting on the Iron Throne, but his mother's family is the richest in the land. Problem is, he's not only a inbred bastard (literally), he's also a sociopathic monster. So the real legitimate heir is Stannis Baratheon, younger brother of Robert, the previous king. Stannis is fair and stern, but extremely bitter about perceived slights and so blinded by the righteousness of his claim that he's well on the way to losing both honor and sanity. Stannis has a powerful navy, but not much strength on land. Third is Renly, the youngest of the old king's brothers, who has no legitimate claim. But he's charismatic, a bit of a dandy and extremely popular, so he decided to elbow in on the fun. Renly probably has the largest force, but no-one in his camp is granted POV in the story, which means he's got no chance whatsoever. These first three are all clamoring for the Iron Throne, which rules over the Seven Kingdoms. King number 4 is our own Rob Stark, who has re-claimed his ancestor's title of King in the North. He's not technically fighting for the same prize as the others, but only trying to carve out a nice chunk that used to be independent way back when. The latecomer to the party is Balon Greyjoy, who staged a rebellion ten years ago and is giving it another try while everyone else is all confused and looking the other way. Balon's ace in the hole is his son Theon, who was a fosterling/hostage to the Stark family for a decade. Rob Stark trusts Theon as a brother, which turns out to be a big mistake since Theon is one disgusting piece of work and even more megalomaniacal than his father.

* Deep breath * get all that? There will be a quiz later--just be glad I didn't include the other three story lines.

Recommended for: Fans of fantasy, history or historical fiction, but start with the first book in the series: A Game of Thrones.

Parental Worries: Just as many as the last book >_< Brutal violence and lots of sex.

Audiobook Comments: Read by Roy Dotrice, who does an excellent job.

Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Moderate)
Clash of Kings has more fantastic elements than the first book in the series, and it makes good use of them. But this isn't a series where the magic is a big selling point--the plot and characters carry it all.

I think I've finally figured out how I want the power struggle to turn out: Rob Stark gets to keep his family's old lands as King in the North, and Daenerys Targaryen (the exiled princess, daugher of a long line of kings whose father was overthrown by Robert Baratheon) will come back to claim her birthright but be content with the southern lands. That's not so much because I'm overly fond of Daenerys, but because at this point the other contestants for the throne have less to offer. Plus, Daenerys has dragons ^_^ Odds of this actually happening are extremely slim, but meh :-p at least I've got something to cheer for. My actual prediction is that John Snow (who is supposedly Ned Stark's bastard son and was raised as a full brother with all the other Starks), after defeating whatever ominous threat is looming in the far north, will discover his true birthright, which is really complicated but basically turns out with him being the best suited to take the throne and re-unite the land. Yay!

P.S. Okay, so I lied about the quiz :-p Or maybe, if you could follow that last paragraph at all, you passed the quiz.

An Educated Fangirl

I've been trying to post twice a week, but I didn't have time to write a real review >_< so I'll run a quick plug for an awesome site I just found.

Journey to the Sea is a new online magazine devoted to the study and discussion of myths and comparative mythology. The issues aren't long and there's not too many of them yet, but it's really good stuff. In the first few issues, they briefly cover Milton, Harry Potter, and O.S. Card's Alvin the Maker series.

About a year ago I was thrilled to discover that my fascination with myths and fairy tales wasn't nearly as obscure or random as I thought--there was a big fancy term for it: comparative mythology. Now, I think the field in its purest form is concerned only with ancient myths and possibly their fairy tale derivatives, but I also really enjoy the use of the classic, timeless themes in more modern literature, and Journey to the Sea is looking to be a very nice source for a discussion of both varieties.

Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

This book first caught my eye because the title seemed so offbeat, even though at the time I didn't know that Balzac was a famous French author, which makes it even more so. Once I read a bit about the synopsis though, I was even more interested: Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress takes place during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1970s, and I'm not only unfamiliar with that time period, I'm unfamiliar with (but interested in) Chinese culture in general. It seemed like a good chance to learn.

Overview
The main character (who remains unnamed in the English translation) and his best friend Luo-Luo are sent from their home to a remote mountain village as part of the Down to the Country Movement, a program that attempted to 're-educate' privilaged urban youths by sending them to work with peasant farmers for an unspecified amount of time. It's quite a culture shock--possibly comparable to sending a city youth of today back in time to a pioneer farm of the early 1800s--and because the boys' parents are seen as political dissidents, they have very little chance of returning home. (no-one actually says 'political hostages', but that's the basic idea)

Enter the Little Chinese Seamstress--daughter of the tailor in a nearby town, beautiful and literate--a rare flower amid the muck that comprises the rest of the boys' experience on the mountain. (She doesn't actually have a name either, Luo-Luo is the only character with a real name.) Predictably, both boys fall head over heels for her, even though Luo claims that she's 'not sophisticated enough'.

Next, enter Balzac. The boys manage to get their hands on a cache of translated Western novels, all of which are strictly banned, and whole new worlds open before them. Balzac, Hugo, Flaubert, Dumas, and even Dickens introduce them to adventure, intrigue and romance. And Luo decides that these are the perfect tool for improving the Little Seamstress' "sophistication".

Recommended for: Pretty much anyone :-p

Parental Worries: The two boys are about 17, and when you throw in a bunch of French literature and a pretty young girl, things are bound to get . . . adult. Not too much detail though, I'd give it a high R rating.

Audiobook Comments: Read by B. D. Wong, a fact which by itself raises the book's awesomeness twofold. That's because I'm only just recovering from a massive Law and Order addiction, and B.D. Wong plays a psychiatrist in the Special Victims Unit incarnation of the show. Fangirlishness aside though, he really does a very good job.

Ramblings:(Spoiler Threat: Low)
Although I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, the ending caught me completely off guard, and I was left thinking "what's that supposed to mean?" It was a very contradictory, ironic and almost tragic ending; I couldn't figure out what take-home-message or statement the book was trying to make with it. Then I remembered that I've been reading nothing but fantasy, adventure, and kick-to-the-face moral stories for awhile, so I needed to fine-tune my analysis. For one thing, the story is semi-autobiographical, so one of the main purposes is to illustrate a piece of history, to open a window into a time period that is not particularly well-known. It does a very good job of that--surprisingly good, considering that it takes place in an isolated backwater village. It's also a coming of age story, so there's quite a bit about human nature and lots of colorful characters.

And of course, there's the literature ^_^ The impact of The Count of Monte Cristo or Madam Bovary on a mind accustomed to tepid Communist propaganda is profound, beautifully written and fully explored. My one complaint is that the main character's favorite books, with the exception of Monte Cristo, were virtually unknown to me, so I couldn't wholeheartedly mirror his joy as I could have if he'd been discovering some of my old favorites.

Overall, a very good book and a refreshing break from my fare of late.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

After the awesomeness that was WALL-E, director Andrew Stanton's next movie will apparently be an adaptation of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, of Tarzan fame. He's said that the movie will involve both live action and animation, but that's not much help, since anything from Harry Potter to WALL-E itself counts as a hybrid :-p Either way, I'm sure it'll be an awesome movie.

Unfortunately, after reading the book I have to hope that Stanton doesn't stay too loyal to his source material. (and I never, ever thought I'd say that about a film adaptation of a novel >_< ) It's got a pretty good story, which is why I have hope for the movie, but the main character's narrative style gets old really fast.

Overview
John Carter is a native Virginian and Civil War veteran who finds himself mysteriously and randomly transported to the planet Mars, or Barsoom as the natives call it. He soon becomes entangled in a war between the brutish, alien green martians and the practically human red martians, one of whom is the title character. (oh, and btw, that's red as in red injun--this is a product of the good 'ol pre-PC days) That's about it for the plot. Now, to it's credit the conflict is much more complicated than a simple "green aliens bad, red aliens good" setup, but it does easily fall into the vein of 'squabbling natives need civilized man to step in and make things better'.

Recommended for: I'm kinda stumped on this one. Kids? Fans of turn-of-the-century adventure novels? I'd feel bad not recommending it--it wasn't nearly bad enough for that. Maybe I'll just say wait for the movie ^_^

Parental Worries: Nobody on Mars wears clothes. Because it's a book this isn't much of an issue, especially since they only mention it once or twice, but there you are. There's also a kind of forbidden love affair, but it concerns the more alien of the two martian races and their society is so turned on its head that there's no real moral parallel to ours.

Audiobook Comments: Read by Dennis McKee. He may actually be one of the reasons I found it very hard to like John Carter. The book is told in first person, and Carter's voice (both from the writing and the narration) was annoyingly self-congratulatory and condescending >_<

Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Low)
I sometimes have a hard time imagining books as movies. Before the Harry Potter movies came out, I was terrified that they'd come off like the old BBC Narnia miniseries for some reason. And before I read Princess I'd seen a few bits of cover art that did not suggest a family-friendly movie along the lines that Pixar's been producing. For example:

So I read the entire book visualizing a more scifi version of One Million Years B.C. or Ben Hur. >_< Princess is credited with being an early scifi novel and an inspiration for Heinlein, Bradbury and Sagan--but don't let that fool you. This is a Lost World novel along the lines of King Solomon's Mines with a thin patina of science on top. Now, I'm a big fan of several more recent adventure/scifi series, coughStarWarscough so this isn't necessarily a bad thing. (on second thought, I'm not sure how much was known of Mars in 1912, so it might have had pretty good science for the time--thin atmosphere, lower gravity--but I stand by my point in the context of today's scifi standards)

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

I could take the easy way out (and help catch up on my growing backlog of reviews to write) by summing up this book in one word: torture. And half way through the book, that's about what I was ready to do, but I persevered for your sake, dear reader. (or was it because I'm too stubborn for my own good? I always forget :-p )

Oh well, I wasn't actually expecting to enjoy Slaughterhouse 5; I'd heard it compared to Catch 22 far too many times for that. But I'll give most books a try, especially if they are as influential as I've heard S5 to be. On the whole, I definitely don't consider my time wasted and I'm glad I finished it--the ending (and particularly the afterward) made it worth reading.

Overview
The book's introduction tells of an encounter between Vonnegut and the wife of his old war buddy, when he visited their home to pick up material for his book. She accuses him of writing another war story that will be turned into a Hollywood thriller, with dashing, heroic men playing the lead roles, when in reality the soldiers were nothing but scared boys. She fears that his story will inspire more babies to run off to war and spill their blood needlessly, but he promises her that there will be no role in his book for John Wayne or any other Hollywood hero. He kept his promise, and there is nothing in his book to inspire war lust or heroic fantasies. But neither is there anything to inspire a reader to love his fellow man, cherish his family, or care for anything in the world.

Plotwise, the book follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, a man who has become unstuck in time. Billy experiences his life in stops and starts--his wedding night one instant, and a night in a German prison camp the next. This tends to make Billy very detached, and we watch his experiences in WWII Germany running side by side with his life before and after the war. His war experiences are more or less linear though, so we follow him up to and through the fire-bombing of Dresden. Oh, and somewhere along the line, Billy gets abducted by time-traveling aliens. Well, not really time-traveling, more like time-exempt--they can see and move in the fourth dimension as easily as we can move through the third. (Yeah, it's supposed to be random)

Recommended for: Anyone interested in reading Important Books. (not a bad reason, that's why I read it :-p )

Parental Worries: Lots. Sex, violence and utter despair, in detail.

Audiobook Comments: Read by Ethan Hawke, which goes to show that if your book is famous enough, you can get a big name to read it. Hawke has a beautiful voice and he does a good job, but for some reason it makes me smirk.

Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Moderate)
The thing that gets me about this book is the utter detachment. There is no affection between any of the characters, the closest we get is brief recognition of a kindred spirit in passing. Billy has no love for his wife, his children, nothing. He probably loves the porn star that the aliens bring him as a mate, but I'm pretty sure that was all a delusion anyway, so it doesn't count. The main theme of the book is inevitability; Vonnegut isn't calling for an end to war, he merely illustrates its horror. The theme of inevitability is at least partially responsible for the book's detachment--since Billy knows what is going to happen throughout the span of his life, he has no drive to change things or react in any way.

One device Vonnegut uses that really gets under my skin is the use of the phrase "so it goes". Supposedly, that's what Billy's aliens say whenever someone dies, because they not only see the event as unavoidable, but they also see all time at once, so that the person is never really gone. On the surface, it's a beautiful sentiment--death is inevitable, so accepting it and remembering the person's life is a good response. However, he uses it ad nauseum--any time death is mentioned, whether its a person, an animal, an insect, a figure of speech. This takes it from a beautiful idea to a way of belittling human life and the magnitude of its loss, of making it insignificant.

I have to say though, despite all my whining, that this book probably wasn't meant to be enjoyable. It describes horrible events, but for the most part events that actually happened and should not be forgotten. I'm slightly torn as to whether the stark, bleak way the entire story is presented was unnecessarily morbid, or if it the tone was needed to convey the actual shock and horror involved in the WWII events. I'm not referring to the descriptions of the war, (I have no problem with those being as stark and ugly as they really were) but the events in Billy's life afterwards and their juxtaposition with the war stories evoke a special kind of horror and disgust all their own. For instance, we flip between Billy's night in a prison camp to his wedding night and back again. I'm leaning towards unnecessary.

Again, I don't consider my time wasted, but I won't be re-reading S5 if I can possibly avoid it.