Let's catch up on some books. I've been requesting book suggestions on facebook recently, but I'm happy to take them here, too. My reading list always goes through feast and famine stages, and it's currently resembling one of those skinny cows that eats lots of books but still stays skinny.
11/22/63 by Stephen King
I don't read Stephen King, as a general rule, but this looked interesting and not terrifying. I was right on both counts. I'm only ruining the first 50 pages out of 800+ to say that the book involves someone who is able to travel back in time, and ends up on the idea that the Kennedy assassination needs to be prevented. Most of the book takes place in the late 50s an early 60s as the hero goes into a sort of deep cover for reasons that I won't spoil. The book had quite a bit less interesting commentary / humor situations stemming from someone from the present (2012ish) living in the early 60s than I expected. I was a bit disappointed when about 200 pages into the book it started developing some bad language. And then another 200 pages in there was suddenly more sex going on than I really needed. (To clarify, the amount of sex I need in a book is none.) It's not like things were graphic by any means, but I really didn't see any point in telling me exactly how busy the main characters were getting.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
This was probably my least favorite Sanderson book that I've read, but given the overall excellent quality of his work, that isn't exactly a condemnation. Really, the only issue I have with this book is that it is written for young adults. YA fiction isn't bad or anything, but a good adult fiction book is basically always going to win out over a good YA fiction book. The story is a near-future post-apocalyptic situation where a small percentage of regular people have developed super powers and destroyed the world. The main bad-guy, for instance, can turn stuff to steel, and is pretty much invulnerable to bullets or other weapons. So, he's taken over Chicago and has other super-powered people working for him running the city as his own personal kingdom. Enter the heroes who are going to save the world by taking down the villains running everything. Typical plotting, explosions, and near-escapes ensue. The book seems to be set up to be a series. Given the length (384 pages) and reading level it's a pretty quick read and I'll probably read the next one when it comes out.
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
The cover of the book says it's the best new work of fantasy to be written in the last 20 years, or something like that (credited to Orson Scott Card). As this is Sanderson's first book, it may have been true at the time, but I remain partial to Mistborn and the Way of Kings which he has written since then. Elantris is a city inhabited by people who are, essentially magicians. They can heal people, they live for a very long time, they make rocks into food, all that good stuff. Normal people become Elantrins in a magical transformation that happens overnight (literally), until something happens and it all goes wrong. Instead of a blessing the transformation becomes a curse where the people are left in a sort of zombie state physically (but not mentally) and the magic doesn't work anymore. The city is sealed off and avoided, and anyone else who is transformed is shoved into the city and forgotten about by their families. It goes without saying that our main character (who is the crown prince) is going to end up with the curse and be sent to Elantris. At the same time we've got people plotting to over throw the kingdom, and other sorts of turmoil going on. I liked that this is a stand alone novel, as I'm currently stuck waiting for books to come out in too many series as it is.
The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I've become pretty predictable. This is a short novel (170 pages) that I read in a single day. I guess it's supposed to be set in the same world as Elantris, but the overlap is so minimal that it might as well not even be there. Sci-fi and fantasy books are hard to summarize, because they can get so complicated to make the world make any sense. The best I can do in a single sentence is that the main character is a magical forger or sorts who is being held captive until she magically re-creates the Emperor's consciousness after he's been left a vegetable after head trauma from an assassination attempt. Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? All fantasy books do when you sum them up like that. But it's an interesting enough short read, particularly if you're working late at night watching a furnace cool down very slowly.
Thursday, October 23
Saturday, October 18
Halloween Logistics
Tonight was the ward trunk or treat, so I've been thinking about the various transactions of Halloween.
First, I go to the store, and exchange money for candy. Other people do the same thing. Then, I give the candy to other people, and other people give candy to my kids. And here's where it starts to get stupid. First off, we need to define the purpose of Halloween. Any kid can tell you exactly what the purpose of Halloween is: get lots of candy. Every single person who goes to the store and buys 30 pounds of little candy bars is admitting this. Of course, we all know that this isn't actually good for you. Candy is terrible, nutritionally. You're kids will be sick, hyper and won't eat their broccoli. We lament the fact that they have all this candy, when we (collectively) are the ones that handed it all to them.
Of course, not giving them candy simply isn't an option. It's traditional, after all, and we're nostalgic for our own Halloween adventures collecting candy. Also, I heard that the Jones' are giving out full sized candy bars this year. I guess our only recourse is to take the candy away from them. It is for their own good after all. But stealing candy from babies and small children is a bad thing, so I guess we'll have to bribe them to give it to us. To this end, we've invented yet another mythical being, the Switch Witch, who takes their candy and leaves them toys in exchange. But that's just code for me going back to the store and exchanging more money for toys, which I will then exchange for my kids candy.
This has gotten complicated enough that it's time for a diagram.
Halloween has got to be the most confusing holiday we celebrate. (And now that I've brought it up, what are we even celebrating?) Anyway, this holiday has some inefficiencies built in to it. Specifically, notice the triangle of red between me, other people and Julia & Ella in the diagram. Candy makes the whole circuit, which means its redundant, and can be eliminated. I buy candy, and then I just keep it. The added bonus here, is that now there's nothing connecting my family to the 'other people' on the chart, so they aren't needed! We don't have to traipse around the neighborhood collecting candy in the cold anymore! Next year for Halloween, I say we just stay home. I'll eat my enormous pile of junk food (just like every year) while my kids unwrap their presents. It'll be just like Christmas!
First, I go to the store, and exchange money for candy. Other people do the same thing. Then, I give the candy to other people, and other people give candy to my kids. And here's where it starts to get stupid. First off, we need to define the purpose of Halloween. Any kid can tell you exactly what the purpose of Halloween is: get lots of candy. Every single person who goes to the store and buys 30 pounds of little candy bars is admitting this. Of course, we all know that this isn't actually good for you. Candy is terrible, nutritionally. You're kids will be sick, hyper and won't eat their broccoli. We lament the fact that they have all this candy, when we (collectively) are the ones that handed it all to them.
Of course, not giving them candy simply isn't an option. It's traditional, after all, and we're nostalgic for our own Halloween adventures collecting candy. Also, I heard that the Jones' are giving out full sized candy bars this year. I guess our only recourse is to take the candy away from them. It is for their own good after all. But stealing candy from babies and small children is a bad thing, so I guess we'll have to bribe them to give it to us. To this end, we've invented yet another mythical being, the Switch Witch, who takes their candy and leaves them toys in exchange. But that's just code for me going back to the store and exchanging more money for toys, which I will then exchange for my kids candy.
This has gotten complicated enough that it's time for a diagram.
Tuesday, October 14
Stuck on an Author
Tyler's comment on a recent post called my extensive reading of Orson Scott Card's works "impressive". I choose to interpret this as impressive in a good way. And it's got me thinking about authors that I've read a lot of. So, I'm making a list, and you're free to play along. I'm excluding children's books (so no Dr Seuss, Sandra Boynton, or Magic Treehouse) but I'm obviously allowing young adult books. The list is dominated by (science) fiction novels, which isn't surprising. I read a decent amount of non-fiction, but those books are less likely to bring you back to the same authors again and again. (Unless William L. Shirer happened to write about the rise and fall of the first two reichs, or David McCullough continues on to write about every year since 1776.)
While I'm not sure what my list would look like if you asked me to come up with my ten favorite authors, I'm pretty sure this isn't it. I don't think more than 3 of these authors would make that list, though don't ask me who the other seven would be. I also can't shake the feeling that this list isn't accurate, so leave me a comment if you can think of someone that I've forgotten about. (Something tells me that five minutes after hitting 'publish' I'm going to think of someone embarrassingly obvious.) And after all that ado, here's the list:
1. Orson Scott Card, 39 books. It's like when you start eating your kids Halloween candy, and suddenly there is this enormous pile of candy wrappers, and you're thinking, "Did I really just eat 39 little candy bars? It didn't seem like that many. But they're so good, I just want more. Except that a couple of them were terrible." And then you eat more, even though Card's Homecoming Saga was painful.
2. Robert Jordan, 11 books. The first 11 books of the Wheel of Time. It's a zillion pages, and no, I don't want to read the prequel. The series was good, but it didn't really leave me wanting to go find more of his work.
3. Brandon Sanderson, 10 books. The last 3 in Wheel of Time, 4 Mistborn, 2 Way of Kings, and I've started Steelheart. Unlike Robert Jordan, reading his books did make me want to read more of his books.
4. J.K. Rowling, 8 books. Harry Potter, including the Tales of Beedle the Bard.
4. Arthur C. Clarke, 8 books. 2001, 2010, 2061, 3001, Rama (4 books)
6. C.S. Lewis, 7 books. Narnia. And I think they should be read in the order they were written. So there.
6. Isaac Asimov, 7 books. 4 robot books, 3 Foundation books.
6. Bill Bryson, 7 books. I think.
9. Michael Crichton, 6 books. Better books than movies. Actually, I think I've only seen 1 of the movies.
10. Dan Brown, 5 books. Apparently he's only written 6 total.
10. Agatha Christie, 5 books? 2 Marple?, 2 Poirot?, And Then There Were None. If anything I've read more than 5 of her books.
10. Lloyd Alexander, 5 books. Maybe I should add up the number of pages or something, because the 5 Prydain books combined only took a week or two to read.
10. Douglas Adams, 5 books. I'm pretty sure I read all of the Hitchhiker books, though I definitely was losing interest quickly as the series went on.
Notable authors who didn't make the list, but who I didn't forget: Tolkien (4), Clancy (3), Ludlum (2?), Grisham (2?), King (2)
edit: Added Crichton and Alexander, after they were mentioned in the comments and I realized that I have indeed read books by those guys. Added Adams when a different Douglas reminded me of him.
While I'm not sure what my list would look like if you asked me to come up with my ten favorite authors, I'm pretty sure this isn't it. I don't think more than 3 of these authors would make that list, though don't ask me who the other seven would be. I also can't shake the feeling that this list isn't accurate, so leave me a comment if you can think of someone that I've forgotten about. (Something tells me that five minutes after hitting 'publish' I'm going to think of someone embarrassingly obvious.) And after all that ado, here's the list:
1. Orson Scott Card, 39 books. It's like when you start eating your kids Halloween candy, and suddenly there is this enormous pile of candy wrappers, and you're thinking, "Did I really just eat 39 little candy bars? It didn't seem like that many. But they're so good, I just want more. Except that a couple of them were terrible." And then you eat more, even though Card's Homecoming Saga was painful.
2. Robert Jordan, 11 books. The first 11 books of the Wheel of Time. It's a zillion pages, and no, I don't want to read the prequel. The series was good, but it didn't really leave me wanting to go find more of his work.
3. Brandon Sanderson, 10 books. The last 3 in Wheel of Time, 4 Mistborn, 2 Way of Kings, and I've started Steelheart. Unlike Robert Jordan, reading his books did make me want to read more of his books.
4. J.K. Rowling, 8 books. Harry Potter, including the Tales of Beedle the Bard.
4. Arthur C. Clarke, 8 books. 2001, 2010, 2061, 3001, Rama (4 books)
6. C.S. Lewis, 7 books. Narnia. And I think they should be read in the order they were written. So there.
6. Isaac Asimov, 7 books. 4 robot books, 3 Foundation books.
6. Bill Bryson, 7 books. I think.
9. Michael Crichton, 6 books. Better books than movies. Actually, I think I've only seen 1 of the movies.
10. Dan Brown, 5 books. Apparently he's only written 6 total.
10. Agatha Christie, 5 books? 2 Marple?, 2 Poirot?, And Then There Were None. If anything I've read more than 5 of her books.
10. Lloyd Alexander, 5 books. Maybe I should add up the number of pages or something, because the 5 Prydain books combined only took a week or two to read.
10. Douglas Adams, 5 books. I'm pretty sure I read all of the Hitchhiker books, though I definitely was losing interest quickly as the series went on.
Notable authors who didn't make the list, but who I didn't forget: Tolkien (4), Clancy (3), Ludlum (2?), Grisham (2?), King (2)
edit: Added Crichton and Alexander, after they were mentioned in the comments and I realized that I have indeed read books by those guys. Added Adams when a different Douglas reminded me of him.
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