This Week In Books: #11
Dec. 25th, 2006 12:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanShould I even bother typing this? After all, who's going to be on lj on Christmas Eve? Me, for one... Anyway, I have seven books for you. And boy is the first a real loser.
1) Mysteries of the Middle Ages - Thomas Cahill
This book is an absolute piece of crap, which is fitting because the only possible use I can come up with for it is as emergency toilet paper. I truly thought I'd like Mysteries, as it purports to be about "The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of [Roman] Catholic Europe." Unfortunately, it is nothing of the sort, and that's the least of its faults.
I suppose Mysteries could function passably as a collection of decidedly non-academic biographies of various historical personages with some connection to the Roman Catholic church, but that's it. Cahill goes to great pains to repeat his claim that said personalities pioneered the rise of feminism, science, et al, yet never offers one scrap of evidence to support this. (And one would have to offer up copious amounts of evidence indeed to prove such a thesis--the Roman Catholic church did not invent these movements. They arose in response to, and counter to, church orthodoxy, and were subsequently repressed and persecuted because of it. But I digress.)
Although this book is shelved in the history section, it would be better off under 'religion', because Cahill is nothing but a dishonest apologist for Roman Catholocism, whose attempts to whitewash its unsavory aspects would be comical were they not so insulting. He refuses outright to systematically list his sources, thus rendering any independent analysis of his 'arguments' impossible. According to the author himself, the work he consulted most for several chapters is a trio of twentieth century fictional novels about life in Medieval Norway. Another example: he quotes an (uncited) letter from one 12th century Italian noblewoman to her suitor. Except there's one problem. I recognized the 'quotation'--it was a verse from Thomas the Rymer, the 19th century Scottish Child Ballad.
But this dissembling is as nothing compared to the book's worst aspect: its religious bigotry. Cahill refers to Islam as an, I am not joking, "religion for simple people" (no really, I am quoting here), which only took hold because it was forced on its later adherants. (As opposed to, say, Christianity in northern Europe, Africa, Australia, and both of the Americas?) Cahill's constant snide asides about the Eastern Orthodox Church and Gnostic Christianity are obnoxious and tiresome. And then there's the contradictions. And the utter weirdness. (Example: Cahill praises the cosmopolitan melting pot of Rome and its empire, which incorporated nationalities and races from all over the contemporary world, before claiming not two paragraphs later that the Italians, unlike the British, French, or Germans, are the most "ethnically undiluted" people in Europe. (PS: WTF?) He also states that the Catholic church never persecuted the fourth and Albigensian Crusades on other Christians because guess what! According to his reading of history, only numbers one to three count as crusades...) The publishers have tried to mitigate against these factors by producing what is arguably one of the most visually appealing books I've read this year, but even this failed to erase the bad taste in my mouth. Avoid this one like the plague and encourage everyone you know to do likewise.
2) The Stupidest Angel - Christopher Moore
Now here is a book that is a true delight. Unfortunately, I can't say much about it because I don't want to spoil any of the fun, so by way of explanation, I'll just give you its subtitle: "A Heartwarming Tale Of Christmas Terror" and leave it at that. It's got a wonderfully inventive and (yes) heartwarming storyline, with solid pacing, solid writing, and quirky and endearing characters. And it's unbelievably funny. Best of all, it features repeat performances and cameos by characters from several of Moore's other novels. Read this one now.
3) The Book Of Three - Lloyd Alexander
I haven't read this one in 14 years, because I was afraid that it just wasn't going to be as good as it was when I was young, that what I really remembered was my imagination filling in for a simple narrative. I was wrong. The Book Of Three was every bit as good this time as it was during my first countless go-rounds. The writing is solid, slyly humorous, and engaging. I love all of the characters so much, and I also realised the that pale shadows of them I see in some other fantasy books might be what draws me to said books. Alexander takes the Welsh myth of the Mabinogion and makes it into something completely fresh. Read this one once you're finished with Stupidest Angel.
4) Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
This fabulous book is the graphic novel autobiography of Satrapi, who was 11 years old at the start of Iran's cultural revolution, and it will stick with you long after you've put it down. What I love best about Persepolis is its complete lack of any agenda aside from relating events on the ground as they were. We hear from Satrapi's Marxist relatives, her fundamentalist teachers, parents (idealistic and cynical by turn), and people Satrapi encounters during daily life. Ironically, this complete lack of a political bent gives a more complete impression of the country than any number of 'nonfiction' books I've read about the nation. "They've taken over the American embassy!" Satrapi's father wails. "It's a disaster!" Because of the eventual American retaliation? No, because "no embassy, no American visas!" The book is filled with little moments like this, which makes its conclusion all the more heartbreaking. Read it.
5) Last Temptation - Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli
A Gaiman graphic novel illustrated by Zulli? If you're like me, your reaction upon reading those words was, Count me in. Well, Last Temptation is good, but it's nothing grand. It's apparently based on an Alice Cooper concept album Gaiman helped conceive (of all things). Being neither a fan of Cooper nor familiar with the album, this did not resonate very deeply with me, but then again, Gaiman himself admits that the comic was meant to be the "equivalent of several pop singles: nothing too deep, nothing too ambiguous." And with its watered down rehash of a climactic moment from Gaiman's novel American Gods, it is just that. Zulli's wonderfully expressive and creepy artwork is what saves Temptation from complete mediocrity (although his depiction of "The Showman" (a pivitol character) looks like the unholy love child of Dream and Eric Draven). At any rate, it's a good read, but nothing I'd recommend actively seeking out.
6) The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
Zombies--they're the new black! I read this one in preparation for tackling Brooks' latest, World War Z, and it's surprisingly engrossing for a no nonsense how-to manual. The first 150-odd pages are written in the manner of a disaster survival guide, assisting the reader in choosing appropriate weapons, mastering escape and attack techniques, and finally in surviving a chaotic planetwide zombie infestation. (The lesson I took from all this is that I stand no chance in hell of surviving.) The latter half is devoted to cataloguing historic infestations. This part slips a bit, mostly in terms of character voice; Brooks is obviously not terribly familiar with some of his settings and the narrative fares better when he adopts the voices of bemused colonial observers. The interweaving of the various infestations, however, is clever indeed, and I expect it will play an important roll in Z.
7) Orbiter - Warren Ellis & Colleen Doran
Another one-off graphic novel, this time from the creator of Transmetropolitan. Orbiter is a little too science fiction-heavy for my tastes, but it's well-written and creative, and the art is lovely. Its biggest fault is that it's too short; there's far too much exposition packed into its three short chapters and it would have fared much better expanded into four or five times as many episodes, thus allowing for more action and suspense to occur on screen in the present. That said, it's a nice bit of space scifi, and should please anyone who's into the genre.
That will be all. Merry Christmas!
1) Mysteries of the Middle Ages - Thomas Cahill
This book is an absolute piece of crap, which is fitting because the only possible use I can come up with for it is as emergency toilet paper. I truly thought I'd like Mysteries, as it purports to be about "The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of [Roman] Catholic Europe." Unfortunately, it is nothing of the sort, and that's the least of its faults.
I suppose Mysteries could function passably as a collection of decidedly non-academic biographies of various historical personages with some connection to the Roman Catholic church, but that's it. Cahill goes to great pains to repeat his claim that said personalities pioneered the rise of feminism, science, et al, yet never offers one scrap of evidence to support this. (And one would have to offer up copious amounts of evidence indeed to prove such a thesis--the Roman Catholic church did not invent these movements. They arose in response to, and counter to, church orthodoxy, and were subsequently repressed and persecuted because of it. But I digress.)
Although this book is shelved in the history section, it would be better off under 'religion', because Cahill is nothing but a dishonest apologist for Roman Catholocism, whose attempts to whitewash its unsavory aspects would be comical were they not so insulting. He refuses outright to systematically list his sources, thus rendering any independent analysis of his 'arguments' impossible. According to the author himself, the work he consulted most for several chapters is a trio of twentieth century fictional novels about life in Medieval Norway. Another example: he quotes an (uncited) letter from one 12th century Italian noblewoman to her suitor. Except there's one problem. I recognized the 'quotation'--it was a verse from Thomas the Rymer, the 19th century Scottish Child Ballad.
But this dissembling is as nothing compared to the book's worst aspect: its religious bigotry. Cahill refers to Islam as an, I am not joking, "religion for simple people" (no really, I am quoting here), which only took hold because it was forced on its later adherants. (As opposed to, say, Christianity in northern Europe, Africa, Australia, and both of the Americas?) Cahill's constant snide asides about the Eastern Orthodox Church and Gnostic Christianity are obnoxious and tiresome. And then there's the contradictions. And the utter weirdness. (Example: Cahill praises the cosmopolitan melting pot of Rome and its empire, which incorporated nationalities and races from all over the contemporary world, before claiming not two paragraphs later that the Italians, unlike the British, French, or Germans, are the most "ethnically undiluted" people in Europe. (PS: WTF?) He also states that the Catholic church never persecuted the fourth and Albigensian Crusades on other Christians because guess what! According to his reading of history, only numbers one to three count as crusades...) The publishers have tried to mitigate against these factors by producing what is arguably one of the most visually appealing books I've read this year, but even this failed to erase the bad taste in my mouth. Avoid this one like the plague and encourage everyone you know to do likewise.
2) The Stupidest Angel - Christopher Moore
Now here is a book that is a true delight. Unfortunately, I can't say much about it because I don't want to spoil any of the fun, so by way of explanation, I'll just give you its subtitle: "A Heartwarming Tale Of Christmas Terror" and leave it at that. It's got a wonderfully inventive and (yes) heartwarming storyline, with solid pacing, solid writing, and quirky and endearing characters. And it's unbelievably funny. Best of all, it features repeat performances and cameos by characters from several of Moore's other novels. Read this one now.
3) The Book Of Three - Lloyd Alexander
I haven't read this one in 14 years, because I was afraid that it just wasn't going to be as good as it was when I was young, that what I really remembered was my imagination filling in for a simple narrative. I was wrong. The Book Of Three was every bit as good this time as it was during my first countless go-rounds. The writing is solid, slyly humorous, and engaging. I love all of the characters so much, and I also realised the that pale shadows of them I see in some other fantasy books might be what draws me to said books. Alexander takes the Welsh myth of the Mabinogion and makes it into something completely fresh. Read this one once you're finished with Stupidest Angel.
4) Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
This fabulous book is the graphic novel autobiography of Satrapi, who was 11 years old at the start of Iran's cultural revolution, and it will stick with you long after you've put it down. What I love best about Persepolis is its complete lack of any agenda aside from relating events on the ground as they were. We hear from Satrapi's Marxist relatives, her fundamentalist teachers, parents (idealistic and cynical by turn), and people Satrapi encounters during daily life. Ironically, this complete lack of a political bent gives a more complete impression of the country than any number of 'nonfiction' books I've read about the nation. "They've taken over the American embassy!" Satrapi's father wails. "It's a disaster!" Because of the eventual American retaliation? No, because "no embassy, no American visas!" The book is filled with little moments like this, which makes its conclusion all the more heartbreaking. Read it.
5) Last Temptation - Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli
A Gaiman graphic novel illustrated by Zulli? If you're like me, your reaction upon reading those words was, Count me in. Well, Last Temptation is good, but it's nothing grand. It's apparently based on an Alice Cooper concept album Gaiman helped conceive (of all things). Being neither a fan of Cooper nor familiar with the album, this did not resonate very deeply with me, but then again, Gaiman himself admits that the comic was meant to be the "equivalent of several pop singles: nothing too deep, nothing too ambiguous." And with its watered down rehash of a climactic moment from Gaiman's novel American Gods, it is just that. Zulli's wonderfully expressive and creepy artwork is what saves Temptation from complete mediocrity (although his depiction of "The Showman" (a pivitol character) looks like the unholy love child of Dream and Eric Draven). At any rate, it's a good read, but nothing I'd recommend actively seeking out.
6) The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
Zombies--they're the new black! I read this one in preparation for tackling Brooks' latest, World War Z, and it's surprisingly engrossing for a no nonsense how-to manual. The first 150-odd pages are written in the manner of a disaster survival guide, assisting the reader in choosing appropriate weapons, mastering escape and attack techniques, and finally in surviving a chaotic planetwide zombie infestation. (The lesson I took from all this is that I stand no chance in hell of surviving.) The latter half is devoted to cataloguing historic infestations. This part slips a bit, mostly in terms of character voice; Brooks is obviously not terribly familiar with some of his settings and the narrative fares better when he adopts the voices of bemused colonial observers. The interweaving of the various infestations, however, is clever indeed, and I expect it will play an important roll in Z.
7) Orbiter - Warren Ellis & Colleen Doran
Another one-off graphic novel, this time from the creator of Transmetropolitan. Orbiter is a little too science fiction-heavy for my tastes, but it's well-written and creative, and the art is lovely. Its biggest fault is that it's too short; there's far too much exposition packed into its three short chapters and it would have fared much better expanded into four or five times as many episodes, thus allowing for more action and suspense to occur on screen in the present. That said, it's a nice bit of space scifi, and should please anyone who's into the genre.
That will be all. Merry Christmas!
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no subject
on 2006-12-25 10:02 am (UTC)Haha.... seconded!
I'll just give you its subtitle: "A Heartwarming Tale Of Christmas Terror"
I am going to torture book sellers with this title... I know they don't have it, but that is their fault! XD
Merry Christmas!
no subject
on 2006-12-30 08:49 pm (UTC)Anyway, did you have any luck finding that book? If not, I know amazon.com has it (used, even) and their international shipping rates tend to be pretty reasonable.
no subject
on 2006-12-25 11:47 am (UTC)Obviously not I, as it is now in the evening on Christmas day ;p Sorry I wasn't around when you pinged me on aim - I was at mother's for lunch. I hope we get a chance to catch up soon. Have a great Christmas, and if I finally manage to get my act together, you might receive a parcel in the post. {{{{HUGS}}}}
p.s. I absolutely adore this Samurai Champloo AMV. Reminds me all over again how much I love the series.
no subject
on 2006-12-30 08:50 pm (UTC)Anyway, drop me a line once you're reconnected to the series of tubes. ;)