Last Friday I finished the second of Eileen’s book recommendations, Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex. I knew absolutely nothing about it before I started, and I deliberately avoided the introduction at the front of my edition. I needn’t have worried. The big “hook” of this story – that it’s being narrated by a hermaphrodite – is given away on the first page. It’s not so much the story of what Cal is, but how he came to be what he is. So instead of immediately gratifying my curiosity (and voyeurism), Eugenides’ narrator abandons his intriguing opening in favour of the story of how Cal’s grandparents immigrated to the US. They escaped the Great Fire of Smyrna (it was eye-opening to be reading this while the debate about the Armenian Genocide is going on) and eventually ended up in Detroit. Eventually the story skips ahead to follow the romantic tribulations of Cal’s parents, first-generation Greek-Americans who had no idea what the previous generation had gotten up to. By the time Cal(liope) is finally born halfway through the book, I couldn’t put it down.

That’s not to say the book is perfect. The family stuff is certainly compelling – and the hermaphroditic element is undeniably interesting – but overall I never really warmed to Cal as a person. I liked Calliope and I sympathized with her confusion, but I didn’t find her sudden transition to Cal to be very believable. This review from the New York Review of Books spells it all out much better than I can. Still, the characters are all vivid and fascinating, and it taught me a little bit about a period in history I knew very little about. (My favorite part was probably the reintroduction of Desdemona to the narrative. I had actually thought several times to myself, “What happened to her? Did I skip a paragraph where she died?” Ha!)

Now I’m on to The Accidental by Ali Smith, as recommended by Brittanie. Again, I’m going in cold. So far it’s a very different read to Middlesex, like the difference between an impressionist Art Film and a sprawling Scorsese narrative.

Bah. I was all excited about NaNoReMo until he announced the chosen book: Catch-22. I HATE Catch-22. I had to read it in college and I swear I had to restart it about six times before I could muster the interest to plow through to the end. I guess I’ll sit this one out. (Besides, I’m in the middle of Middlesex and I’m loving it. Thanks again for the recommendation!)

• The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante
• Map of Bones by James Rollins
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comic) Issue 2
• Marvel 1602 (Trade Paperback)
• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
• The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs

Quick reviews:

– The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante
This one was lent to me by my co-worker Bridget right before we left on the trip. It’s a pretty straightforward crime thriller and I plowed through it, finishing just before we landed in America. I found the resolution a little surprising, mostly because I was expecting more of a twist. I also thought that the characters got remarkably dumb at the end; I knew where the villain was waaaay before they figured it out. Still, it was a relatively entertaining page turner.

– Map of Bones by James Rollins
My Dad’s wife Cindy lent me this one to read on the flight to Orlando. It’s basically a Da Vinci Code knockoff, with a bunch of secret agents running around Europe trying to defeat an ancient society of alchemists. I couldn’t even name a single character at this point, so they must have all been pretty forgettable. Mostly I was hooked because the initial murder takes place in the Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, where I’ve actually been. But I’d only recommend this one if you’re a big Dan Brown fan.

– Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comic) Issue 2
Yay! Picked this one up at a comic book store in Evanston, Illinois. Giles! Willow! I’m a big fan.

– Marvel 1602 (Trade Paperback)
I actually found this one at Target in Goshen, Indiana. I hadn’t heard of it before, but the idea of Neil Gaiman setting superheroes in Elizabethan England was too cool to pass up. I really liked it! Luckily I’ve been exposed to enough of the Marvel universe now to recognize most of the characters. I especially liked meeting the Fantastic Four, since I haven’t really read any of their stuff yet. (It took me, like, ten minutes to get what had happened when the glass thing in Doom’s bedroom breaks and “someone” calls Natasha a whore. That ruled.) So overall, I’d give this one a big thumbs-up to newbie fans like me who are still wary of jumping into the current comics chronology.

– Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
This was awesome. I picked it up on a whim at a bookshop in O’Hare and I just devoured it. I remember at one point actually feeling like a lightbulb had gone off over my head as McCloud perfectly illustrated how and why comics work. It reminded me of a lot of my film studies in college, but it’s written in such a way as to be accessible to everybody. Now I’d just like to find something similar that talks about the history of comics, especially as pertains to the 20th century. Any recommendations?

– The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs
I actually haven’t quite finished this one yet. I picked it up at LAX and I’m about 2/3 of the way through. It’s about one guy’s random obsession with reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. I’m enjoying it in much the same way I enjoy Bill Bryson’s work. It indulges in my love of pointless trivia and knowledge while occasionally making me laugh out loud. So far, so good!

John will be so proud. Last night after work I ventured into Kings Comics and bought my first real, actual comic book. (The others I’ve been reading have all been trade paperbacks bought from bookstores.) And what did I get? I got the first two issues of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born. I also asked about the upcoming Buffy Season 8 books and was told it should be here tomorrow! Nice b-day pressie. So this is what I don’t quite get, comic book fans: How do you know when new books come out? Do you just have to wait and watch on the comics sites?

OOOOKAY! Thank you, Max, for recommending a book that SCARED THE BEJESUS OUT OF ME. Yeah, I just finished Scott Smith’s “The Ruins.” I didn’t know it was going to be a horror story! I could only read it during the day, in full sunlight. I’m still creeped out. Oh, and yeah, it’s frickin’ springtime here so the bushes and flowers and VINES are all flourishing and YOU KNOW how I am with nature at the best of times, right? *shudder*

A few months ago, I remember reading a MetaFilter thread where somebody was asking for recommendations of a good, modern sci-fi-ish book to recommend to his wife, who doesn’t actually like sci-fi. One title that popped up a lot was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. (Here’s the thread.) I spotted it in the bookstore not long after and picked it up, but I didn’t get around starting it til last week. I didn’t really know anything about it other than it was supposed to be one of those “postmodern” novels where the timeline is a bit of a puzzle and the bits are all intersecting. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised to find myself reading some sort of Hornblower tale of the South Pacific, with a bunch of 19th century Englishmen learning about Maori history. “This is science fiction?” And then suddenly… it changed completely.

I don’t want to ruin it for you though, so I’m going to keep the plot discussion minimal. But don’t worry; it’s not a nerdy genre piece with aliens or spaceships. Most of it isn’t what you’d classify as “sci-fi” at all. So don’t let that put you off. But if you think you might read it AT ALL, don’t do any googling on it or read the Wikipedia. The structure is a lot more fun to discover on your own and I’m glad I came to it without any expectations. Suffice it to say that the “gimmick” tested my patience at first, and you may well find the first half of the book a little frustrating. (It’s not confusing though; these isn’t a hoity-toity story where the language is impenetrable.) By the time we got to Korea, I was completely hooked. (Sonmi’s tale was my favorite by far.) And then suddenly it all starts to make sense and you reach the top of the mountain, and you’ve got it worked out and you’re sure you know where the second half is going to go – because you’ve already seen where it’s going to go – but you plunge in all the same and you’re both racing to find out what happens and dreading each link in the chain that brings you nearer to the end… and then suddenly you’re right where you expected to be, but you’re still amazed that he managed to pull it off. So if you’re looking for something a little different, something that is both an entertaining read and a work of stunning inventiveness, I really recommend Cloud Atlas. Now I just have to convince the Snook that getting a comet tattooed on my shoulder is a good idea…

Books I’ve Finished Recently:

– March by Geraldine Brooks. This one came highly recommended – both by Mary-Helen and the folks at Kinokuniya – but I have to say I’m a little conflicted about it. On one hand I think it’s a great story, well-told and engaging, and the author’s conceit of filling in the missing “grown-up” parts of Little Women is cleverly executed. (Almost too cleverly; I found myself ticking off each expected plot point as it occurred: the parents’ courtship, the Marches’ lost fortune, Marmee’s temper, Aunt March’s feud, etc.) Brooks is unflinching in her portrayal of the Civil War and the moral conflicts faced by those abolitionists who took up arms. Yeah, I wept when I read the message on the silk scarf, and I was surprised at how the happy ending of LW was changed into something completely different here. But for all its good points… it’s fan fiction. Really good fanfic, but fanfic nonetheless. I kept thinking back to the horrible The Wind Done Gone and the salacious Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife (especially with all the unexpected sex). *shudder* Are they really giving out Pulitzer Prizes for exceptional achievements in fan fiction now? Because the Harry Potter slashfic geeks will be ALL OVER THIS.

– Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson. Yeah, Snookums has already read this one to me as a bedtime story, but I fall asleep and I miss parts. It was nice to go back and fill in the gaps. Man, I just can’t get enough of Sniff! He’s definitely my favorite character (followed closely by the Hemulen). “Five horrible experiences. It’s beginning to be monotonous!” I like how Sniff is always screaming and running after shiny things.

– Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb. I absolutely love the look of this book. This is what comic books should look like. That said, the story was a bit hard for me to get my head around. I can tell from the way it’s structured that many of the cameos, in-jokes, and references were gifts for the hardcore fans (who no doubt loved them), but with my limited knowledge of Batman canon most of them went right over my head. (For example, I’d never heard of Clayface before so his appearance was really confusing for a while.) But man, the look of it! Great hulking heroes and ass-kicking voluptuous babes… It was worth it just for the visuals. (And for Supes getting his butt kicked. That’s always a bonus.)

– Ultimate Spider-Man (Volume 1) by Brian Michael Bendis. Meh. I didn’t love this one so much. The vivid cartoony style just doesn’t appeal to me a lot. Is this the way Spidey has always looked? So gangly and Disneyfied? I know it’s just the origin story, but right now it reads like Spider-Man meets Saved by the Bell. Maybe I just prefer darker stories…

– Y: The Last Man (Volume 1) by Brian K. Vaughan. Like this one! A mystery plague wipes out every male on the planet except for one guy and his pet monkey. And oh yeah, his Mom’s a Congresswoman and this girlfriend’s somewhere in Australia. The artwork is okay – not visually arresting like Hush, but not too distracting to the narrative like Ultimate Spider-Man. (It took me a little while to work out that 355 is actually female.) The writing is awesome, really well done. (I like it when comic book characters swear.) I was wary that the concept would get boring and cheesy, but I got sucked into the story really quickly. And the violence! Those crazy Amazons, cuttin’ their own boobs off. I can’t wait to see where they go with this…