Rants, Dismissals, and the occasional ray of sunshine from my 66 books of 2013

2013 is over and I made two thirds of my goal of 100 books.  A few random thoughts followed by some lists:

There were two books in particular that were mind numbingly awful:
1) Lando Calrissean and the Mind whattt?  I figured this would be pretty much dreck, but thought some good campy fun about one of the least explored characters of the original trilogy would have some merit.  WRONG.  Terrible in so many ways.  Bland writing, interchangeable characters and most galling, a contrite, almost apologetic Lando with no balls of any kind.  Horrible, horrible, horrible.
2) The Warlord of Air by Michael Moorcock. Great name for a gay porn star, but what a dreadful sci fi.  Started promising, ended in polemic.  Some dickhead said that it was the best sci fi/fantasy since Tolkien. If you like your socialism served in heaping doses of preachy prose without the benefit of any real thought, then this is the book for you.  RAAALPHH.
Award for "Not ALL Books by Revered Author are Classics" Award:
The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick. Interesting title, but wow, boring, boring boring. I guess when you write as much as Dick, there's bound to be a clunker, but I would have thought his clunkers would be better than other's best, which, isn't really true. Just lame.

Award for "I Never Knew Hitchcock was Such a Pussy":
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Seriously, read this book, then get the Hitchcock movie. I always thought the movie was a high point of film noir with an incredibly well played psycho at the heart of it. But the book is on a different level entirely. Some moments drag a bit as one of the central characters spends too much time wrestling with their conscience, but, wow, talk about a psychological thriller. After The Talented Mr. Ripley and this book, I believe that Highsmith is the most under appreciated author from the 20th century. She may not have delved into the American experience like Steinbeck or Fitzgerald, but her creations represented the beginning of the sociopath as antihero that still dominates our entertainment culture. Plus, her writing digs deep into guilt and loss and friendship and so many other themes in such a uniquely twisted way. I'm not sure why she doesn't get enough run as a great author, but I enjoy her works tremendously.

The "Holy Shit, Did I Just Read That Award":
My readings have been fairly off the beaten path so there are a few candidates for one of my favorite awards. Honorable mention goes to Parliament of Crows which was so well done about three mystifying women and Prince/King of Thorns which put the "Dark" in dark fantasy, but the hands down winner was A Plague of Wolves and Women. It's almost an indescribably brutal nightmare told from the most nonplussed narrator. I mean, what happens is horrifying in every sense and no one is safe. But somehow, it's not awful to read, though it should be. I even gave it to my mom, thinking there was no way she'd finish it, but she actually liked it. Weird.

More coming soon....

Book 66: The Amber Spyglass

So I fell pretty short of my goal of 100 books.  I started strong, then work got in the way (and a couple of TV series that I invested in, namely homeland and finally finishing Dexter).  66 is a good number though.  I can't really get much symbolism from the last one, The Amber Spyglass.  I liked it,didn't love it.  The early parts were almost unreadable, but once Lyla comes back, it takes off.  Unfortunately, a couple of side stories are absolute snoozefests.  The crushing anti-religion element also gets fairly distracting.  Still, the story is strong enough at points to be a true page turner and I'm sure there's plenty of allegory (both obvious and not so obvious) that I missed or didn't care enough to notice.  Still, better than a lot of the final books of so called children/YA series that I've read with some good payoffs. 

Book 65 and 66: Shipbreaker and Drowned Cities

In the Shipbreaker world, Paulo Bacigalupi has created one of more interesting dystopian societies I've encountered.  The broken US serves as his backdrop and the warring remaining factions as his driver.  Like The Windup Girl, PB uses environmental disaster to great effect.  But his biggest contribution is the incredible character of Tool, a part dog, part panther, part hyena human hybrid.  While Tool is the greatest warrior of the dystopian world, he is also it's greatest philosopher, even if its by accident.  His almost Jedi like pragmatism in a world gone to hell creates even greater awareness of the horrible mess.  I am hugely fond of both novels and look forward to more set in this world.

Book 64: Summer Knight

The fourth Dresden book is probably my least favorite so far.  The urban fantasy formula, which seems to have been invented Jim Butcher through his Dresden books, is basically just a mystery/noir dressed in wizardy clothing.  The first three were pretty much mind candy.  Nothing great, but some interesting characters and good pacing.  This one gets off the rails a bit for me.  I'm one of those who like the magic worlds to be mysterious and opened slowly.  I don't like elaborate magic systems and alternate realities need a lot of oomph to get it right (think CS Lewis or the wonderul Lev Grossman books).  Butcher's attempts to create the Fairie kingdoms (or whatever they were called) fell really flat for me.  The characters were almost entirely interchangeable and it felt rushed more than well paced.  Still, I'm a fan, so I liked it, but just thought it strayed too far from what I enjoyed in the first three.

Book 63: Krondor's Sons

I knocked out Feists Magician trilogy (or quadrology depending on your viewpoint) earlier this year.  I enjoyed it, even if it was a bit dopey thematically.  After immersing myself in so much dark fantasy, returning to more epic and moral fantasy felt like watching the Disney version of Game of Thrones.  There was just very little to keep the book at anything more than a surface level, plot driven, vaguely intersting story.  I guess it's just a bit sappy.  The only part that worked was the culture clash, but even that was overdone.  Still, Feist is a fast paced writer so it didn't feel like a waste.  I just wish the people were more interesting.

Book 62: Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu

Sounds awful, but I thought it might provide some good campy fun on my favorite underexplored character from the Star Wars universe.  Unfortunately, it was awful.  Really, really awful.  Finished it though and I have two more books in the trifecta that I bought, but I may never read those ones.  Really, truly dreck. 

Book 61: Coraline

I like Neil Gaiman quite a bit, though I found American Gods, which is very well received critically, to be vastly overrated.  As a story, it was fine, but just not top 10 of any lists that I would create.  For some reason, Gaiman feels a bit derivative of classic Clive Barker.  I don't have any real comparisons leaping to mind, but what I've read of Gaiman feels a bit like it's been done before.  Don't get me wrong.  I loved Neverwhere in many ways.  I didn't particulary care for American Gods though everyone else loved it.  So, I picked up Coraline. 

Alright.  This is cool.  I loved Coraline.  It's not one of the first books a lot of people associate to Gaiman, but even though this still felt a bit of a take on themes I've seen before, I really enjoyed it.  Good nasties, intrepid girly hero, and a cool as a cucumber cat.