3 Vendémiaire CCXII (September 24, 2003)
First The Lights, Then The Collar Goes Up
A while back I listed the purchases I had made at Chapters. Seeing as there's not a hell of a lot to do in Moncton anymore I've been attacking that pile (and others) this week.
Current status:
As the sidebar and above list proves, I'm still tackling Hirohito & The Making Of Modern Japan. It's an interesting book, the only problem is that right now I'm still stuck in "the prince's education." While I'm sure it is important in showing just what kind of society he grew up in and how it shaped his character, it just leaves you wanting to know more about the people who appear only in passing rather than the prince-regent himself. However, I should make some decent progress for a change, especially seeing as it's now the only book I brought home with me that's yet unread.
As for the others I've finished, I'd have to say my least favourite was Neverwhere. There was just something about it that didn't quite sit right with me. Maybe it was the story itself, or the fact that I found that some of the plot twists in it also appeared in some form in American Gods, but the end result was that I found it enjoyable but not enthralling.
Peter was right about one thing though, Life of Pi is good. Amazingly good. Superbly good. Words can not begin to express how much I enjoyed it good. Out of all the books I've finished so far it's without a doubt my favourite of the lot. I can't explain why I liked it, there's just something there that makes you want to finish it despite the fact that you already know what the protaganist's final fate is.
Finally, while I'm at it, Ender's Game. I'll start by getting one thing out of the way: I enjoyed it. I want to track down and read the sequels (and I really hope they don't deteriorate in quality as quickly as another science fiction classic I once read that made me want to read the sequels.) But, and you should have seen the but comingI just don't see what all the hype about it is. Yes, it was good. But I didn't find it to be that good.
Maybe it's because I had heard so much before, maybe it's because I had worked out many of the plot twists beforehand rather than just letting my mind flow along with the story. But I just don't get what's so amazing.
Anyone care to explain?
It might have been the hype. And it might be where you're at in life -- I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much if I read it now for the first time. A lot of the enjoyment for me, I think, was how I related to Ender as a smart kid who didn't fit in at school -- and then it tapped into my fantasies about saving the world, being a martyr, and making everyone have to respect me.
I think part of the allure of the book is that it's so simple and good. I've never met anyone, ever, who didn't like the book. It's easy to read; it only takes a couple hours from cover to cover. It has a lot of good topics in it.
But it's a kid's book. I wouldn't expect it to be your favorite book now anymore than Coraline would.
That makes a lot of sense.
If I had read it years ago then I do imagine I would have looked at it differently. I never thought of it as a kid's book though, which could be why I was kind of disappointed.
Most people I know of who recommend it never say anything like that, just how good it is. I really should stop listening to those people. I bought Snow Crash on just such a recommendation, and as good as it was the ending just made me want to phone up Neil Stephenson and scream "What the hell were you thinking?!"
Posted by g026r at 3 Vendémiaire CCXII 21:17 (2003/09/24)
I thought Snow Crash was a brilliant novel based entirely on the first chapter, or maybe the first two, or for however many chapters Hiro was a pizza delivery driver. Stephenson should have just stopped there and made it a short story.
I loaned it to another friend after I finished it (and warned him that he'd hate the ending, I think that needs to be included right on the front cover of the book; "Warning: Ending contains some serious deus ex machina.") His comment when he gave it back to me was something along the lines of "Stephenson was pulling that language crap out of his ass, wasn't he?"
It was an interesting premise, but he seemed to be trying to put too many ideas into one book. Yet another book that doesn't live up to the hype.
Posted by g026r at 4 Vendémiaire CCXII 15:26 (2003/09/25)
Which of course demands that I ask the question: does any book live up to the hype?
Posted by g026r at 4 Vendémiaire CCXII 15:27 (2003/09/25)
Lord of the Rings lived up to the hype of the movie, for all of the people who didn't read the books before the movie came out.
I'm not really one to comment on that seeing as a) I'm not a huge fan of the movies and b) I first read the books around ten years ago.
Posted by g026r at 5 Vendémiaire CCXII 20:58 (2003/09/26)
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