Friday, May 25, 2018

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman


Title: The Amber Spyglass
Author: Philip Pullman
Pages: 518
Finished: May 26, 2018

First Sentence: In a valley shaded with rhododendrons, close to the snow line, where a stream milky with meltwater splashed and where doves and linnets flew among the immense pines, lay a cave, half-hidden by the crag above and the stiff heavy leaves that clustered below.

Summary: When we last left our story, Lyra had been kidnapped by Mrs. Coulter. An angel couple was leading Will to Lord Asriel. Mary Malone had stepped into the world of Chittagazze. It turns out Mrs. Coulter has decided to keep Lyra in an enchanted sleep. Will refuses to do anything until he saves her. Meanwhile, Mary finds the world of the mulefa and discovers a way to track dust. In this conclusion, we see the war of the fallen with the Authority. We see the attempts to stem the flow of dust. And we travel to the World of the Dead to try and save them as well.

Thoughts: Wow! Okay, I'll admit, the first bit is a little slow. Lyra's sleeping, and other than her dream talking with Roger in the land of the dead, there's not much there other than Mrs. Coulter's crisis of faith. Will and the two angels are interesting enough, but it's a long journey. Once Will and Lyra are reunited again, things really pick up and it's hard to put the book down!

My absolute favorite parts though were the bits about Mary in the world of the mulefa. Reading about her learning the new culture and discovering Dust was so fascinating. I wanted SO MUCH MORE! The World of the Dead was particularly interesting too. So much lovely world building.

The end of the book was a brutal as I remembered. In fact, I confess to turning on a movie for my kid so I could finish the book at home rather than during a dinner hour at work because I didn't want to be sobbing horribly in the break room. As I finished, my toddler looked over at me and went "You okay Mommy?" So absolutely brutal, but so beautiful.

I just love this trilogy so much. I love the idea of the fighting for knowledge, curiosity, and wisdom over the opposite. It's so important, and now more than ever it feels like. This is definitely a worthy series for anyone to read. And I challenge any parent who's worried about their kids reading it to read with them. Discuss the book and the ideas! Read it and then read the Chronicles of Narnia for a comparison read. Or A Wrinkle in Time. Sure, the ideas are uncomfortable, but that's literally the point of the book!

I could go on and on about how great this series is. I'm now eagerly awaiting the first book of the Book of Dust trilogy to come in at the library so I can start on that!

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene


Title: Travels With My Aunt
Author: Graham Greene
Pages: 244
Finished: May 22, 2018

First Sentence: I met my Aunt Augusta for the first time in more than half a century at my mother's funeral.

Summary: Henry Pulling, bank retiree and homebody extraordinaire, meets his eccentric Aunt Augusta at his mother's funeral. It isn't long before he's pulled into her world of travel, insane stories, petty smuggling, and other general excitement as she searches for her lover Mr. Visconti.

Thoughts: There was a particular scene that reminded me of Gandalf trying to get Bilbo Baggins to go on an adventure. Sadly, this one just didn't deliver for me. Pulling was rather obtuse and naive. I found myself yelling at him to just get a clue already. Meanwhile, Aunt Augusta was just absurd. Her stories were so fantastic that I found myself putting the book down and going to bed very often because I figured I was just too tired to make sense of what was happening. Then I'd reread the passage the next morning and realize it was just as inane as I thought it was.

I also found the time period oddly disconcerting. The book was published in 1969, and as I understand it was contemporary fiction at that time. For some reason, I kept reading it as belonging to pre-1930s and was understandably confused every time World War II was mentioned. Or "modern" technology. I don't know why I got so disoriented.

For a 244 paged book, this one was a bit of a slog to get through. If it weren't for a book discussion, I probably wouldn't have kept it up. I feel a bit bad as my dad suggested it. Graham Greene is apparently his favorite author. Discussion is Thursday.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman


Title: The Subtle Knife
Author: Philip Pullman
Pages: 326
Finished: May 10, 2018

First Sentence: Will tugged at his mother's hand and said, "Come on, com on..."

Summary: Will finds his way into another world while trying to hide from some bad men. There, he meets Lyra only a few days later from where we last left her. The two of them team up only to find their lives are interconnected. And in the center of it all is a special knife that allows them to travel between worlds.

Thoughts: I remember the first time I read this book. I was so interested in what Lyra was going to find... and the book started with Will. I didn't know who he was, and I didn't care to know who he was. He grew on me though.

This book suffers a little from being the middle book in a trilogy. While the first book starts to set up the conflict and the last one finishes the story, this one continues with the storytelling. There are some cool things though. We learn more about who Lyra is and what she's supposed to do. We learn more about Dust. We also get to see how Dust is affecting all worlds, not just Lyra's. And the fact that there ARE other worlds is pretty fantastic. I would have liked to see more world traveling, but I suspect we'll see more of it in the third book.

I'm continually surprised at how much I don't remember. Each book is familiar, and as I keep reading, I have a lot of, "oh, right!" moments, but there's plenty of surprise too. 

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell


Title: Black Swan Green
Author: David Mitchell
Pages: 294
Finished: May 8, 2018

First Sentence: Do not set foot in my office.

Summary: Set over the course of a year in Great Britain during the 80s, this book is a coming of age story for Jason Taylor. Typical coming of age things ensue.

Thoughts: I don't remember how I felt about coming of age novels when I was "coming of age," but I'm not the biggest fan of them now. Not so much because I'm 30 reading about a teenager, but more that I don't remember my coming of age experience being the way that EVERY SINGLE coming of age story unfolds.

Also I was listening to another book at the same time that was very similar, and I kept confusing the storylines. Not Mitchell's best work.

I did enjoy finding the connections between this and Mitchell's other works. Some connections we see are Eva von Oustr..... whatever her name is. She plays the Cloud Atlas again. Also, there's a kid with the last name Noakes who may or may not be related to Nurse Noakes in Cloud Atlas and a few other recognizable names.

Read for my personal reading challenges.











Saturday, May 5, 2018

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman


Title: The Golden Compass
Author: Philip Pullman
Pages: 399
Finished: May 4, 2018

First Sentence: Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen.

Summary: Lyra, an orphan living at Jordan College in Oxford, spends her days getting into trouble. One day, she hides in the Scholar's receiving room and foils an attempt to poison her uncle. Her reward is to stay hidden and learn about a mysterious substance called Dust. But like most kids, what she learns soon leaves her head as more interesting things happen. Things like the Gobblers who steal children, or a lovely woman named Mrs. Coulter who comes to take Lyra away, or the gold disc called the alethiometer that the Master of Jordan College gives her before she leaves. Soon, Lyra is running North to rescue kids from a terrible fate while the Church tries to stop anyone from learning what's happening.

Thoughts: This book was written in 1995, but I first listened to it in high school. I was totally taken by Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon back then, and I still am taken with them now. This is fantasy at it's best. Where, even though the world is totally different than ours, the characters are us. Lyra is the embodiment of a prepubescent kid. Invincible, cocky, and headstrong.

I remember there being a huge controversy about this novel (trilogy) as well for its "antichristian themes." Considering we have Lewis, Tolkein, and L'Engle backing us up on the Christian front, I don't necessarily see how it's a bad thing to have some diversity. As an atheist kid, it was nice to see something different. Lyra was questioning many of the same things I remember questioning as a kid.

This time reading it, I started thinking about how and when to introduce it to my daughter when she gets older. I don't own these yet, but they definitely deserve space on my shelf they way Harry Potter does.

Read just for fun.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

May Reads



Black Swan Green by David Mitchell - Personal Challenge
Love, Sex, and Staying Warm by Neil Rosenthal - Nonfiction Challenge
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman - unaffiliated
The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman - unaffiliated
The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman - unaffiliated
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell - Personal Challenge
The Count of Monte Cristo (180 pages) by Alexandre Dumas - Back to the Classics
Travel's With My Aunt by Graham Greene - Book Club (not pictured)

Welp. Last month's reading didn't go as well as I had planned. Things were just... not great. So we'll get back on track. Black Swan Green is slow going, so I'm only going to work on reading one chapter of that a day. I don't want to bring Love, Sex, and Staying Warm out, so I'm going to keep that as an at home book that I read a bit of in the mornings before my daughter wakes up. The His Dark Materials trilogy should be quick, and I'll read that concurrently with Black Swan Green. I'm not worried about the other Mitchell or the Greene. As for Count of Monte Cristo, I plan on reading only 180 pages of it (or more depending on how much I get through before the month ends). It's a very long book, so I'm reading it in chunks. The goal is to finish it by December, which seems doable.