Erin Reads – Page 23 – Notes on Books & Life

Thoughts on the Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik (Audiobooks)

I spent most of September listening to the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, read by the marvelous Simon Vance. I borrowed it from my public library.

About the Books:

I already talked about the first book in this series, His Majesty’s Dragon. Rather than summarize each book, I’ll just say this series is basically the Napoleonic Wars with dragons. If you’d like to hear more, check out my earlier post!

Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (covers)

My Thoughts:

A former coworker recommended this series all the time. Constantly. To me, to customers. Honestly, I wasn’t sold on the premise. I’m not sure exactly why I finally picked the first book up, years after I first heard about Temeraire, but goodness I am glad I did.

Many of you know I’m not a huge fantasy reader. I’m discovering I like more of it than I thought I did, but you probably know that if I profess my undying love for a fantasy series, it must be something special, no? Well. This is me, professing my undying love for Lawrence, Temeraire, and these glorious audiobooks. I can’t say whether I’d love them as much in print (if you’ve read them, care to weigh in?), but as audiobooks, they are wonderful.

Rather than treat each book individually, I’ve assembled for you a list of all the excellent things about this series (in no particular order). *Ahem.*

These books span the globe, and Novik incorporates not only the geography and the people history and culture but an entire dragon history and culture to go along with it. The breeds and customs of the dragons around the world are as diverse and fascinating as the races and customs of people. Novik also gives human-dragon relations in each corner of the world their own flavor.
Novik has also imagined a new piece to Britain’s royal forces: the aerial corps. This branch has its own rules, culture, and habits and is often starkly contrasted with the navy.
Even though the narration focuses on Lawrence and Temeraire, the rest of the world does not simply stand still. Events occur in their absence, messages arrive too late, news arrives to keep them apprised of what is happening in the wider world. They are never isolated but always part of the bigger picture.
Lawrence is the best kind of hero. He is honorable, moral, and brave. He is humble but most likely dashing (at least, that’s how I imagine him). His loyalty to Britain can get a little maddening, but you love him all the more for sticking to his guns.
Temeraire is as real a character as Lawrence. He has his own quirks and personality. I have not read a lot of dragon books, but Temeraire is much more interesting than and quite different from what I had imagined dragons in literature would be like.
For people who think they don’t like fantasy, this is a great introduction. The dragons are the only fantastical element, and Novik weaves them into her story and her world so seamlessly that at times you forget they aren’t really supposed to be there.
Even though the series is already six books long, I don’t feel it’s begun the downward spiral that longer series often drift into as they go. The first book was my favorite, just because I was so delighted by the novelty of it, but I have not felt any of the following books to be a weak link in the chain. Even when the plot would maybe not hold my interest on its own, the delightful characters and creative touches Novik adds throughout keep me going.

Also, a few notes that pertain specifically to the audiobooks:

Simon Vance is amazing. His voices are distinct and consistent, he makes each character’s personality shine through, and he has that delicious British accent. Seriously. Perfect.
Vance also has a way of reading that makes odd moments very funny. He inflects certain bits in a way that often had me giggling at something I most likely would not have picked up in print.
They’re the perfect length, falling around 8 to 10 discs each, just long enough for a good adventure but not so long that they drag.

There you have it: my best attempt to get someone out there to give this series a try. Any takers?

Sunday Salon: A Shift In Focus

Today is the third and final in series of Sunday Salon posts in which I also reviewed my 2011 reading goals and launched a new project.

There comes a moment in most book bloggers’ blogging careers, I think, when the review requests start to take over. It’s exciting when they start rolling in, so many people wanting you to read a particular book, wanting you to share your thoughts on it with the world. This point is a defining moment, in my experience, because you must choose in which direction your blog will go.

I reached this point about halfway through 2011. I have very little willpower where books are concerned, and over the summer, I accepted more books for review than my usual reading schedule could accommodate. Don’t get me wrong — I very much enjoyed reading those books and working with the people who got them into my hands. Some of the things I did not like, however, were feeling I had no choice in what I would read next, not having the flexibility to join a readalong or pick up a book on a whim, and writing reviews of the same book so many other bloggers were also reviewing. I almost completely stopped reading books I owned because of the influx of new titles. Writing reviews of such books also feels different for me. I feel I must be complete in my review, instead of sharing my thoughts and following them where they lead me. I call my reviews “thoughts” for a reason, but lately they’ve begun to feel more like reviews.

My lack of willpower means I can’t just cut back on books I accept for review. So instead, I’ve decided to stop accepting unsolicited review requests. I’ll continue to honor standing agreements with a handful of authors and publishers whose work I very much enjoy and will still be using LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program, Shelf Awareness and NetGalley to find new titles that interest me. But when that unexpected query pops up in my inbox, I’m giving myself permission to just say no.

So. What do I plan to read if not review copies?

Classics: I’ve gotten away from reading classics during the second half of the year, and I miss them. Reading Buddies picks: One a month, just like we’ve been doing. A monthly book for my IRL book group. “Hard” books for my brand new reading project, just READ it. And the rest? The books from my shelves. The books you rave about so much I must read them. The books for readalongs and monthly events that pop up. And, of course, the occasional review copy, as chosen by yours truly.

The only change you’ll see in Erin Reads is in the newness (or lack thereof) of the books I’m reading. They may not all be brand new releases, but they will be books I’ve chosen because they genuinely interest me.

I’m excited. This feels right. And it’s backed up by statistical evidence…but you’ll have to wait for my end-of-year stats post to hear about that!

Reading Buddies Discussion: “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Before I get into The Scarlet Letter: If you haven’t voted for February’s book, please do so! The poll is up in the sidebar.

Welcome, Scarlet Letter Reading Buddies! This month’s selection is one I read in high school, but I can only recall the most basic things about it. I remember it being hard to read, and I know I did not like it one bit at the time (my general reaction toward books I was forced to read!). I also remember the relationship between the three central characters, which took some of mystery out of the 25 or so pages I’ve read so far.

Only 25 pages, you say? Yes indeed. My edition (the Modern Library one) begins with an autobiographical sketch by Hawthorne entitled “The Custom-House,” which I don’t remember reading that first time around in high school. It’s about 45 pages long and deals with Hawthorne’s time as surveyor at the Salem customhouse. It also explains the origin of The Scarlet Letter: while going through old papers at the customhouse, Hawthorne came across a roll of paper and a tattered scrap of embroidered scarlet cloth in the shape of an A. The paper explained the entire story of the letter, which Hawthorne eventually expanded into the novel we’re reading this month. The essay also showed me that Hawthorne could be rather scathingly witty as he turned his pen slyly against his comrades at the customhouse.

Aside from learning about Hawthorne’s inspiration for The Scarlet Letter, the other thing I really enjoyed about “The Custom-House” was the way Hawthorne placed himself within a matrix of his famous contemporaries. Perhaps it’s akin to name-dropping, but Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Ellery Channing, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and several others are mentioned in this essay.

Did your edition include this piece? I couldn’t tell if it’s part of The Scarlet Letter or just something relevant that the editors of my edition decided to include.

My biggest struggle with The Scarlet Letter so far — at least, during the few pages I’ve read — has been the language. I think that’s partly because Hawthorne is imitating the style of some 200 years earlier (the novel was published in 1850, but my edition claims historical markers place the story in about 1642), but having read “The Custom-House,” I think it’s partly just Hawthorne’s style. I’m certainly doing better with it than I did in high school, but I’m still having to slow down quite a bit. Thank goodness The Scarlet Letter is on the shorter side!

How is The Scarlet Letter going for you? Is this your first time reading it? If you’ve posted about the book on your blog, please feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments!

Thoughts on “Going Bovine” by Libba Bray

I’ve had Going Bovine by Libba Bray on my shelf since it came out. I read it recently along with my informal book group.

About the Book:

Cameron is a high school student and social outcast whose life is about to get very strange. Beyond that, Going Bovine rather defies summary. Instead, here are some things you can expect to find between its covers: a talking garden gnome, Disney’s It’s a Small World ride, a sugar-addicted punk-rock angel of questionable reality, an asthmatic dwarf, snow globe vigilantes, a Norse god, fire monsters, mad cow disease, and a Wizard of Reckoning, among other things. Like I said…hard to summarize.

My Thoughts:

I wanted very much to like my first exposure to Libba Bray, an author whose praise I have nearly always heard highly sung. I think, however, that Going Bovine was the wrong place to start. As some of you may recall from my reaction to Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories, I don’t do random well. Admittedly, Cameron’s story did have a bit more of an overarching plot than Alice’s did, but as you can probably tell from the list above, the level of randomness was still extraordinarily high.

Cameron is a bitter, sarcastic, funny narrator. He’s not afraid to swear or to speak his mind, and the more you get to know him, the less you blame him. I certainly found no flaw with him; rather, it was the story he was given that was a little hard for me to enjoy. And that, I think, was only because of my personal literary preferences.

At its heart, Cameron’s story is actually very serious, and I think I was a little uncomfortable with the direct juxtaposition of absurdity and gravity. The whole thing came off farcical in some places, then reality would swoop in and make me feel bad for having so recently laughed at the antics of Cameron and his friends. I think it’s probably actually a very good book — just not really my style.

Will I try Libba Bray again? Absolutely. As I write this, Beauty Queens is watching me from a nearby shelf, and Bray’s Gemma Doyle trilogy is already on my audiobook TBR list. Hardcore fans and those who do not shy away from absurdity will doubtless love Going Bovine, as I feel it was my own tastes and no fault of the author’s that this particular novel and I didn’t gel.

Those are my thoughts. Check out Going Bovine by Libba Bray on Goodreads or LibraryThing, or read a plethora of other bloggers’ reviews!

BAND: Truth in Nonfiction

BAND, the Bloggers’ Alliance of Nonfiction Devotees (and “advocates for nonfiction as a non-chore”…how cool is that??), has recently gotten me to think about why I shy away from nonfiction. I’m quite excited to be hosting this month’s BAND discussion!

I am, primarily, a fiction reader. With fiction, I know what to expect. Events and characters may resemble truth; themes may reflect and apply to reality. But overall, I know that what I am reading is not meant to be fact. It is a work of art — perhaps with a message, or perhaps not — but not something whose validity I feel called to determine.

I like learning new things, so what’s the problem with nonfiction? I believe the answer lies, at least partially, in the question of truth. When faced with a “true” book, I struggle to decide how much to believe and how to figure out whether a particular work of nonfiction can be trusted — basically, how to know how true that book is. Which brings me to the question I’d like to ask this month:

How you determine truth in nonfiction? Is the “true-ness” of a book important to you? If you’re a nonfiction veteran, do you have any pointers to offer nonfiction newbies?

This might sound silly, but I can be a very gullible person. When I read nonfiction, I tend to believe whatever the book says. But I know that every author has an agenda, even the ones who try to follow the facts closely. They all have reasons for exploring the topics they choose, and even the ones trying to be objective will have their own particular slant. I suppose it unsettles me, reading something purportedly true and not knowing how to tell whether it actually is. Agendas in fiction don’t bother me because, well, I know what I’m reading is fiction. I don’t feel like my knowledge of the world is being swayed just because a novelist is up on his or her soapbox.

The one kind of nonfiction I read more frequently is memoir, which, I know, can have varying levels of “truthiness.” As I considered why I gravitate toward memoirs, I realized something: I like them because they’re closest to fiction. I don’t read memoirs expecting everything in them to be true, but rather like novels that may have actually happened. To me they are a way to experience another person’s impressions, worldview, and memories, not a source of universal truth or knowledge.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic, whether you have answers or questions of your own. Other participants’ posts: