This Week In Books: #12
Jan. 2nd, 2007 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanAnd a day late at that. Christmas Eve is one thing, but I wasn't about to sit at home typing this up on New Year's Eve. So you'll just have to settle for my posting it now.
1) Collapse - Jared Diamond
I first became aware of Collapse thanks to an interview with its author on alternet. Subtitled "How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed," Collapse takes both obscure and well-known historic societies and shows how their impacts on their environments either led to their destruction or how the societies' citizens overcame their troubles by lessening said impacts. This should have been a book I absolutely adored, discussing as it does the history and cultures of so many ancient and modern societies, but it falls short thanks to two severe faults. The most glaring of these is Diamond's alarming tendency to summarize the entire book after every two pages of text. Collapse could easily have been edited down to 1/4 of its current length without losing anything central to the text. The second most glaring fault is the structure of the text itself, which is riddled with clumsily constructed sentences, some of which appear to have been half-rewritten but left uncompleted. I was also frustrated by the fact that Diamond never elaborated on the many tantilising bits of cultural and historic information which he used to prove his thesis. I would have much preferred it if Diamond had provided these non-central facts in place of the endless repetition of his hypothesis and supporting arguments. The author does shine, however, in the final chapters of the book where his passion for environmental causes shows through. Furthermore, I was impressed by Diamond's sympathy toward the contraints and restraints imposed upon businesses by their stockholders, which prevent those businesses from operating in more environmentally friendly ways. Collapse is a decent book overall, but be prepared to devote a lot of time slogging through the dross as you read it.
2) Bloodsucking Fiends - Christopher Moore
Or, Christopher Moore Riffs On Anne Rice-Esque Modern Vampire Fiction. And it's cute. Bloodsucking Fiends is a quick read with several sparklingly amusing bits and a nice bit of tension as the action resolves toward the end. I didn't particularly care for the two main characters, who are named Jody and Tommy but could just as easily have been called "Author's (Wet) Dream Woman" and "Not-Very-Well-Disguised Author Avatar." The tertiary characters are the real joy--the Emperor could have walked right out of the pages of a Gaiman novel, and the Safeway Crew are a buddy gang straight out of a mid-eighties movie. So, worth checking out if you're up for a light, amusing read.
3) The Holy Grail - Malcolm Godwin
Perhaps my favorite book on the subject, The Holy Grail examines all the major branches of the medieval grail romances, their authors, and the historical settings that produced them. Godwin interprets the text through a spiritual lens which is thought-provoking and only rarely threatens to descend into the pit of the "finding your inner fairy guardian" new age literary quagmire. It's also an utterly gorgeous book, with color pictures and/or plates facing each page of text, and lovely borders and initials. The Holy Grail is sadly out of print, but I would definitely recommend tracking a copy down if you're at all interested in the subject.
4) The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1 - Alan Moore
I abandoned this one around ish 2 in favor of Promethea, but found that it holds up better as a collection than in single volumes. While I'm familiar with most of the characters in League, I was never a great fan of the classics from which Moore has drawn them, which somewhat dampened my enthusiasm. However, the plot itself is clever, and its riffs on the period fiction which inspired it enjoyable. The characters grew on me to the extent that I will be checking out the next volume.
5) The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down - Anne Fadiman
I admit: I bought this book because I really wanted to read Robbin's The Ravens, but couldn't find it. Spirit Catches You tells the story of Lia Lee, born into a family of Hmong hill tribe refugees of the CIA's "hidden war" in Laos. Lia suffers from severe epilepsy, but cultural norms, communication problems, and mutual mistrust conspire to endanger her life. Spirit is excellently written and quite interesting in that it takes the devil's advocate position in telling Lia's story primarily from her family's perspective while still being even-handed in its treatment of all the other players. It also provides a wealth of information on the Hmong worldview, religion, lifestyle, history, and culture (and also helped me to put names and reasons to some of the things I observed while in Laos). I'll definitely be reading this one again.
That will be all.
1) Collapse - Jared Diamond
I first became aware of Collapse thanks to an interview with its author on alternet. Subtitled "How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed," Collapse takes both obscure and well-known historic societies and shows how their impacts on their environments either led to their destruction or how the societies' citizens overcame their troubles by lessening said impacts. This should have been a book I absolutely adored, discussing as it does the history and cultures of so many ancient and modern societies, but it falls short thanks to two severe faults. The most glaring of these is Diamond's alarming tendency to summarize the entire book after every two pages of text. Collapse could easily have been edited down to 1/4 of its current length without losing anything central to the text. The second most glaring fault is the structure of the text itself, which is riddled with clumsily constructed sentences, some of which appear to have been half-rewritten but left uncompleted. I was also frustrated by the fact that Diamond never elaborated on the many tantilising bits of cultural and historic information which he used to prove his thesis. I would have much preferred it if Diamond had provided these non-central facts in place of the endless repetition of his hypothesis and supporting arguments. The author does shine, however, in the final chapters of the book where his passion for environmental causes shows through. Furthermore, I was impressed by Diamond's sympathy toward the contraints and restraints imposed upon businesses by their stockholders, which prevent those businesses from operating in more environmentally friendly ways. Collapse is a decent book overall, but be prepared to devote a lot of time slogging through the dross as you read it.
2) Bloodsucking Fiends - Christopher Moore
Or, Christopher Moore Riffs On Anne Rice-Esque Modern Vampire Fiction. And it's cute. Bloodsucking Fiends is a quick read with several sparklingly amusing bits and a nice bit of tension as the action resolves toward the end. I didn't particularly care for the two main characters, who are named Jody and Tommy but could just as easily have been called "Author's (Wet) Dream Woman" and "Not-Very-Well-Disguised Author Avatar." The tertiary characters are the real joy--the Emperor could have walked right out of the pages of a Gaiman novel, and the Safeway Crew are a buddy gang straight out of a mid-eighties movie. So, worth checking out if you're up for a light, amusing read.
3) The Holy Grail - Malcolm Godwin
Perhaps my favorite book on the subject, The Holy Grail examines all the major branches of the medieval grail romances, their authors, and the historical settings that produced them. Godwin interprets the text through a spiritual lens which is thought-provoking and only rarely threatens to descend into the pit of the "finding your inner fairy guardian" new age literary quagmire. It's also an utterly gorgeous book, with color pictures and/or plates facing each page of text, and lovely borders and initials. The Holy Grail is sadly out of print, but I would definitely recommend tracking a copy down if you're at all interested in the subject.
4) The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1 - Alan Moore
I abandoned this one around ish 2 in favor of Promethea, but found that it holds up better as a collection than in single volumes. While I'm familiar with most of the characters in League, I was never a great fan of the classics from which Moore has drawn them, which somewhat dampened my enthusiasm. However, the plot itself is clever, and its riffs on the period fiction which inspired it enjoyable. The characters grew on me to the extent that I will be checking out the next volume.
5) The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down - Anne Fadiman
I admit: I bought this book because I really wanted to read Robbin's The Ravens, but couldn't find it. Spirit Catches You tells the story of Lia Lee, born into a family of Hmong hill tribe refugees of the CIA's "hidden war" in Laos. Lia suffers from severe epilepsy, but cultural norms, communication problems, and mutual mistrust conspire to endanger her life. Spirit is excellently written and quite interesting in that it takes the devil's advocate position in telling Lia's story primarily from her family's perspective while still being even-handed in its treatment of all the other players. It also provides a wealth of information on the Hmong worldview, religion, lifestyle, history, and culture (and also helped me to put names and reasons to some of the things I observed while in Laos). I'll definitely be reading this one again.
That will be all.