BOOKISHGAL

I guess it’s time to look back over 2008 and contemplate how successful (or not) a year it was, with regard to my reading habits and what I actually read. I only managed to finish 33 books this year, due to two things: 1) I’ve been unemployed all year, and much of my reading has been done on trains and buses going to and from work; and 2) I spent most of the summer doing a thorough edit of my novel, so every free minute was spent on that, rather than with a book. So I might have hit 50 or more if not for those two things.

I hope to do better in 2009, but the list of books for 2008 is still interesting.

For one thing, I read Bunnicula for the first time. All my friends and acquaintances had read it long ago, and constantly referred to it, so when I had the chance, I finally read it. It was fun, though I might not rave about it as much as they do. Still, I’ll get the references from now on.

I also read Michael Moorcock’s Elric series again. I went on a Moorcock binge a few years ago and read everything I could get my hands on, so it was fun to revisit what I thought was the best of his “Eternal Champion” books.

I interspersed the fiction with stuff like The Origin of Satan, by Elaine Pagels, and The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell. I felt like my brain had gone a bit soft in recent years,  not having to exercise itself that much. So I wanted (and still want) to get back to some of the academic stuff I studied in university. I’m going to try to read more philosophy in 2009, certainly. And more science.

One bright spot was the gradual introduction of book reviews. It started when my friend suggested I review Impostor, by Richard Beymer. I really enjoyed doing it, and decided I’d like to do more. I did a whole bunch of them, in fact, at my own blog, Confessions of a Cultural Idiot.

I also joined the Library Thing Early Reviewers Group late in the year, and so far have gotten two books to review: Any Given Doomsday, by Lori Handeland, and What God Can Do For You Now, by Rabbi Robert N. Levine. Then Lisa at Minds Alive on the Shelves (in my blogroll) recommended the Mini Book Expo site for snagging other books to review. And now I’ve got one of those books on the way too - a book called Leaving Fundamentalism, a topic about which I know rather a lot.

Speaking of which. Two new (to me) books I got in 2008 were Crazy for God, and Portofino, by Frank Schaeffer. The first was his account of being raised as the son of the evangelical philosopher/theologian, Francis Schaeffer, and together with Francis, being pretty much responsible for starting the Religious Right. Frank has since become horrified at the monster he helped create, and in Crazy for God he also described the nastiness at the heart of that movement, and how he escaped it.

I relate to that in a big way, because I was a huge follower of Francis Schaeffer many years ago, and have since then had the same reactions to the political monstrosity as Frank had. Except, of course, I hadn’t created it, and wasn’t at the heart of it.

Portofino is fiction - supposedly - but if you read it right after Crazy for God, it’s fairly clear that the fictional missionary family Schaeffer describes is almost a carbon copy of his own. And with the two books together, you wonder how Schaeffer actually came out of it rational and sane.

Those books were a revisiting of my life of many years ago, and very moving. They were both nostalgic and horrifying. Despite all the other great books I read during the year, I think those two were kind of the peak. They both explained - and exorcised - some pretty heavy stuff from so long ago.

The big thing, though, about 2008, was that I didn’t read enough books! Doesn’t a bookish person always say that? But I really mean it.

So if I have any sort of New Year’s resolution this time around, that’s it: read more books.

Time for a bit of change of pace! I’ve been doing fiction the last two weeks, but this time I’ve made the switch from fiction, and am doing some archeology. Or rather, I’m about to begin a new archeology book as my bedtime reading, so it’s the Tuesday Teaser book today. Time for some non-fiction.

Once again, the reminder of what is to be done for this little meme. We are asked to:

• Grab our current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share two teaser sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• Share the title of the book that the “teaser” comes from, so people can find the book if they like the teaser.
• And once again we must remember – avoid spoilers.

This is from the book I’m just starting:

Botta, admittedly, received a magnificent response when he appealed to the French government for funds, but when Layard wrote to Canning, the British ambassador at Istanbul, suggesting that his finds were of such importance as to merit support by the British Museum, all Canning managed to obtain for him was two thousand pounds. The result was that Layard was forced to raise money by selling antiquities.

This is from page 169 of The Anvil of Civilization, written by Leonard Cottrell. The book was published in 1957, and this edition, by Mentor Books, is from 1964. That also makes it part of my Books Without ISBN series.

If you want to do your own Tuesday Teaser, either do it in a comment on this blog, or do it on your own blog and leave a link here. Also be sure to post your teaser on the originating blog for Tuesday Teasers, Should Be Reading.

Well, darnit. I just heard this morning about something that was announced on December 24 (thanks so much for the Xmas present, Disney, she said sarcastically): Disney jumps ship on next ‘Narnia’.

While declining to elaborate, Disney and Walden Media confirmed Tuesday that for budgetary and logistical reasons the Burbank-based studio is not exercising its option to co-produce and co-finance the next “Narnia” movie with Walden.

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Happy post-Christmas! I hope everyone is recovering from being all stuffed and hopefully merry. It’s interesting to see that so many people in the Book-o-sphere are still busy with books, looking back and the previous year and planning for 2009.

Nicola at Alpha Heroes is nearing the end of her month-long excursion into the world of anthologies. I’m very entertained by her current review of the anthology, Hot Blooded. The review talks not just about the novellas in the book, but about Nicola’s own change of heart with respect to vampire stories. It’s an interesting commentary on how our tastes change, though as always, it also depends on whether there are good stories out there.

Which might bring up an interesting question: which comes first, our change of taste or the proliferation of good stories in a particular genre?

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MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

I started thinking this morning about all the generous people who have given books as gifts to me. And as I looked over my shelves, I realized I’ve been enriched indeed, by all those people. Here are some examples.

It began years ago, of course, with such books as A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. I’ve already talked about those in a previous post. I’ve loved them to death ever since I was a kid. I know they were a gift from someone, but alas, I can’t remember who. Probably my parents, but also possibly my aunt.

And it carried on until I was an adult, when family and friends - who knew me so well! - began to give me other books that were absolutely perfect for my interests and tastes. For example, another book I’ve already discussed here, given to me by a friend named Gael: The Origin of Species.

And so it has gone over the years. When I was at university, one of my (several) majors - the one in which I got both my degrees, in fact - was Religious Studies. My version of that degree was more about philosophy of world religions, but we were required to take some courses in the doctrines and practices of both western and eastern religions as well. So my friend Susan, a fellow student also working on a Religious Studies degree, got me these books for Christmas one year: The Nag Hammadi Library, and The Bible as History. They were perfect.

And of course, the religious studies work was partly related to my absolutely fervent passion for mythology, so the books that were about mythology proper continued coming in. I’ve mentioned yet another one of those here before: The Golden Bough, by Frazer, also given to me by Gael.

It wasn’t all sternly academic, however. I’ve gotten a lot of new reading, and been introduced to wonderful new authors, because of the wonderful bookish gifts friends have given me over the years. Take Terry Pratchett. A multitude of friends had raved about him for a long time, but I’d never yet read him. And so my pals Maia and Ed took it upon themselves to buy me four Pratchett books for my birthday, two or three years ago. I read the first couple and thought, “Well, they’re fine, I guess, but I wouldn’t rave about them like everyone else does.” Then I read Small Gods, which so far is my absolute favourite Pratchett book. And suddenly the light clicked on, I thought, “Oh, now I get it,” and I’m steadily reading through all the rest of Pratchett’s books and having a wonderful time. (I suppose it’s no coincidence that the “hook” was the fact that Small Gods deals with mythico-religious subjects that are dear to my heart. Whatever works, eh?)

Maia also introduced me to another writer whose books I really enjoy: Kim Harrison. It began with Maia coming to visit, with a few books that she didn’t want to carry back home with her, so she asked if I’d like one of them - Dead Witch Walking, by Harrison. The books have a strong paranormal component, but the stories are fun and intriguing as well. Ms. Harrison can thank Maia for the fact that I’ve becomen a regular buyer! I believe I have five of the books so far. And yes - I’m perfectly aware that there’s at least one more, and I’m keeping my eye out for when it comes out in paperback.

The academic interests have continued, though, even if I’ve been out of university for a few years. One subject I didn’t take in university - yet it too relates to the religious studies and the passion for mythology - was archeology. But as I mentioned very early in this blog, talking about Leonard Cottrell’s books about the early archeologial discoveries, ancient, buried history is another of my passions. So knowing this (how well my friends do know me, I never fail to be astonished by it!), a friend nicknamed Ms. A sent me this book through Amazon: Nineveh and Its Remains, by Austen Henry Layard. Layard is one of my favourites among the pioneering archeologists, and the story of his discovery of ancient Nineveh is full of politics and intrigue and a fair bit of adventure. So I was delirious to receive one of Layard’s own books, and remain deeply grateful to Ms. A for giving it to me.

One of my other huge interests - the writings of the forgers of modern democracy as well as great early American writers and thinkers - has been and is still being indulged by my friend Mark, who has been sending me gorgeous hard cover volumes from the American Library. So far, I’ve got the writings of Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Cather, Thoreau, Parkman, O’Connor, and James. Most of them come in a lovely protective display box, so they will stay in pristine shape for many years. I’m gradually working my way through Thoreau and Jefferson, and have dipped a toe into Franklin. My favourite thus far is Jefferson - mostly because he agrees with me in so many things!

And as I continue exploring another fairly recent interest, learning more about the early science fiction writers, my friend Tim has maintained quite a steady stream of second hand books as he discovers them in garage and library sales. It’s because of Tim that I finally received again my long-lost favourite, City at World’s End, by Edmond Hamilton. And discovered the wonders of Leigh Brackett. Just for starters. The books in the photo are just a small (believe me, a small) sample of the books Tim has sent me. They’re from Del Rey’s “Best of…” series. So far, I have the “Best of” Stanley G. Weinbaum, Jack Vance, Cordwainer Smith, C.L. Moore, John W. Campbell, L. Sprague de Camp, Edmond Hamilton, and of course, Leigh Brackett. Thanks to Tim, I am immersed in the grand, heady spirit of new discovery that inspired so many of these writers.

I would not have half the mind I do, I suspect, if not for the generosity and sharing of all these friends, and countless others whose gifts I haven’t had time or space to mention. It hasn’t just been the physical books either. With these friends, I have talked about these books, and others like them, about the ideas and concepts, about the stories and what makes them so enthralling. I have so many intellectual parents that I feel like the Norse god Heimdall with his nine mothers!

I have truly been blessed, both in my friends and in the great gifts of the mind that they have given me. I’ve lost touch with some over the years, but I hope all of these friends, past and present, are having a wonderful Christmas and are as blessed in their gifts as I have been in mine. Merry Christmas!

Hello my lovelies! This is just a ramble today (more on the reason why, in the next couple of days).

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas Eve, managing to drive safely, and not being too rushed with last minute preparations for The Big Day tomorrow. I myself, having all my family about 1500 miles away, am not doing anything particular. The cats and I will have our turkey dinner together, I’ll listen to Handel’s Messiah on CBC Radio as I always do, I’ll do some writing, and I’ll be watching The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. Then maybe Prince Caspian.

Aha! There’s a theme I can adopt for this post. Movies made from books. Because my other holiday fare may involve watching the three Lord of the Rings movies. Ever since the third movie came out - remember? when they released it as the end of the all-day marathon of the movies? - that set of films has been my Christmas viewing tradition.

But what about movies made from books, in general? I remember a few experiences when I was quite young, that made me decide I hated them. I had read and enjoyed Dune, by Frank Herbert, but even though the movie represented some parts of the book fairly well, it just couldn’t capture the real essence of it. And I had seen some sort of cartoon thing of Lord of the Rings that just made me shudder with its awfulness.

In more recent times, I think of The Bourne Identity, which resembles the book when it comes to the title, and a couple of other details, and not much more than that. I liked the mini-series with Richard Chamberlain way, way, way better, because it told the actual story and didn’t veer off in any large way.

Years ago I finally concluded that a movie that was only two or three hours long simply wasn’t adequate to convey the real story in a book. (I still feel that way, for the most part.) And yet there was Masterpiece Theatre, which did quite a good job of bringing books to life. So thinking of something like that, and the Bourne series with Chamberlain, I decided that the only way a book should ever be made into film was in a mini-series. Unless the book was very short.

So over the subsequent years, the very thought of anyone making Lord of the Ringsinto a movie gave me the screaming heebee-jeebees. When I heard that some guy named Jackson was planning to do it, I was filled with horror. I didn’t even think three movies would be enough for that one.

Of course I was wrong.  And I’ve been wrong in other cases too, recently. I think the Narnia films are turning out rather nicely (the first was perhaps a little bland, but I think they did better in the second). And I’m enjoying the Harry Potter movies fairly well.

And I do think Gone With the Wind, while it had to shave huge chunks of detail, also did pretty darn well in capturing the book.

But apart from all of those examples that seem to contradict me, I am still very uneasy when I hear about some book being made into a movie. If the book has a lot of inner dialogue or psychological developments, I don’t think it would work well as a film. (I think that was one of the big things wrong with Dune.) Or if the plot is really complex, it’s likely not to work then either. (I’m probably lucky that I’ve never read Doctor Zhivago, the book, or I’d probably loathe the movie.)

If you get a script writer and director who really, really is capable of capturing the essence of a complex book (see: Lord of the Rings and Gone With the Wind), then fine. But those people, in my opinion, are very rare.

So on the whole, I don’t want books made into movies. I still hold to my preference for a mini-series.

She says, as she goes offline to watch movies-made-from-books for two solid days…

 It’s that time of week again, everyone, and time for the Tuesday Teaser. Sorry I’m a bit late in posting it this time; life has a way of intervening, alas. But better late than never, to labour through a cliche!

Again the reminder of what this is all about. We are asked to:

• Grab our current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share two teaser sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• Share the title of the book that the “teaser” comes from, so people can find the book if they like the teaser.
• And again remember – avoid spoilers.

So here’s mine again:

He knew, subconsciously, that, having seen the stars, he would never be happy again. The dull ache in his breast, the vague inchoate yearning for his lost heritage of open sky and stars, was never to be silenced, even though he was yet too ignorant to be aware of it at the top of his mind.

This is from the book I wrote about a couple of days ago, Orphans of the Sky, by Robert A. Heinlein, this Berkley Medallion Edition published November, 1970. This quote is found on page 37.

As always, to do your own Tuesday Teaser, either you can write it on your own blog and leave a comment here with a link, or do the teaser itself in the comments here. And post your teaser on the originating blog, Should Be Reading.

Happy reading!

These Books Without ISBN have me very excited. They actually were published smack in the middle of the era of the ISBNs (1980), but originated in a regime that kept itself firmly disconnected from most of the conventions of the Western world.

Russkiy Yazik b Kartinkakh, or in English, Russian Language in Pictures is exactly what it sounds like. These were books that one of my professors of Russian, in university, ordered directly from Moscow (or Moskva) for our second-year Russian language course. They contain no English whatsoever, and the introduction of Russian words increases only gradually. This would correspond with how a young Russian school child was slowly learning the alphabet, and learning to read.

We used the books exactly as those school children were doing at that very moment in the Soviet Union: we’d see the objects and learn the words in class, one by one. My books are full of my own hand-written words (in Russian) for those objects. On the “Kitchen” page, I see “nozhi” (knives), “stakani” (glasses), “lozhki” (spoons), etc.

As I was positioning the books to take a picture, Volume 1 fell open to the pages shown in the top photo. All those regimented little kids! Look how straight and proper they are, in their patriotic uniforms. Those kids were in the very beginning phases of the Young Pioneers, the youth groups all over the USSR that helped promote literacy and encouraged patriotism to the state. The kids in the picture are just being initiated into the movement; it was something that kids theoretically had the option not to participate in, but…well, one really wouldn’t be wise to exercise that option.

I didn’t realize until I read that Wikipedia article that the Young Pioneers were a reorganization of the Scouts - yes, those Scouts. In fact, some Scouts took the side of the Bolsheviks in the Revolution, and this led to the government retaining and repurposing the organization. Even the motto was retained: Be Prepared.

In the bottom photo, from Volume 2, you can see that the complexity of the pictures and the stories had grown. The section that starts there is called “V.I. Lenin and Children.” So the pictures show him interacting with children, especially the one on the right side, where he’s bent over talking to them.

What strikes me first, as I look at those pictures, is that they look exactly like the sorts of pictures we used to see in Sunday school, of Jesus with children. My goodness.

Anyway. I love these books. Straight from the Soviet Union, and full of all the things that Soviet educators felt were important for young children to know. And no ISBN!

Hello, I hope everyone has had a nice, relaxing Sunday. Unfortunately I’ve been extremely busy - the perils of an editor when the client has a deadline! (9:00 a.m. tomorrow) So that’s what has eaten up my entire weekend.

So this may have to be short. But I still wanted to do a whirlwind tour around the blogs on my Blogroll, to see what everyone is up to.

At Alpha Heroes, Nicola continues her month featuring reviews, news, and opinions about anthologies. I’m enjoying what she’s doing, even though I rarely read anthologies myself. (Aha! A gap in my reading repertoire! More things I can read!)

Sheri at Bookopolis has posted a review that makes me want to rush out and buy Passive Aggressive Notes, by Kerry Miller. The book contains passive aggressive notes that people have found or received, some of which are very funny, and some, according to Sheri, that are rather creepy. Just seeing a couple of the examples lets me know I’d love this book.

Sandra at Fresh Ink Books is taking up one of the many reading challenges going around the Book Blogosphere right now: she’s doing the “Jewish Literature” challenge, and is going to read at least four books by Jewish authors or about Judaism.

Oh! And speaking of challenges, there’s another really good one, that I found by way of Melanie at The Indextrious Reader. This one’s called The Year of Readers, and involves people signing up to raise money for a literary charity by having people sponsor them while they read. It sounds like a lot of fun, and could really make a difference. Go sign up!

Lisa at Minds Alive on the Shelves has just announced a giveaway of a signed copy of Joshua Henkin’s Matrimony.

And Worthwhile Books has found yet another reading challenge: The World War II book reading challenge.

It’s certainly that time of year, isn’t it? I need to decide my own challenges in the next few days, clearly.

That’s some of what is out there in the Bookish World right now. Go and visit those blogs, and follow some of their own Blogrolls to other blogs, and you’ll find a million more fun things just like these.

I know I’m not the only person who does this. Do you keep a list of all the books you’ve read, and the dates on which you’ve finished them? I know people out there do it just like I do. I also keep track of whether it’s the first time for the book, or whether it’s a re-read. (And since I’ve started reviewing books for Library Thing and other places, I’m now also noting whether or not it’s a review book.)

I’ve been doing this since mid-1978. (Why yes, I was reading in the womb, why do you ask?)

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